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Public Parks: 



THEIR EFFECTS UPON THE MORAL, PHYSICAL AND 

SANITARY CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS 

OF LARGE CITIES: 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 



CITY OF CHICAGO 



By JOHN H. RAUCH, M. D. 

Member of the Board of Health, Sanitary Superintendent, and 
Registrar of Vital Statistics, of Chicago. 



1869 : 

S. C. GRIGGS & COMPANY, 
Chicago. 



Public Parks: 



THEIR EFFECTS UPON THE MORAL. PHYSICAL AND 

SAN IT AR 7' CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS 

OF LARGE CITIES; 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 



CITY OF CHICAGO 








By JOHN H.'^RAUCH, M. D. 



Member of the Board of Health, Sanitary Superintendent, and 
Registrar of Vital Statistics, of Chicago. 



1869 : 

S. C. GRIGGS & COMPANY, 

Chicago. 



At a meeting of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, held 
November loth, 1868, the following resolution was passed : 

" Resolved, that Dr. John H. Rauch be requested, at his 
" earliest convenience, to prepare a paper on Public Parks, to be 
" read before the Academy." 



Public Parks. 



In compliance with the resolution of the Academy, I propose 
this evening to call your attention to the question of Public Parks, 
and their influence upon the moral, physical, and sanitary condition 
of the inhabitants of great cities. The benefits resulting from such 
dedications to public uses, have been know^n and appreciated by all 
civilized nations. And in this connection I trust that it will not be 
deemed out of place, if I give a brief sketch of what has been done 
in other cities, both ancient and modern, both at home and abroad, 
with a view of adornment, and of afibrding to the inhabitants, 
not only agreeable places of resort, but proving eflicient aids in 
promoting public health. 

At no period in the history of this city has this question excited 
so much attention as at the present time ; and it is with feelings of 
the deepest responsibility that I enter upon the consideration of the 
subject, not alone as a member of this Academy, but as the repre- 
sentative of the Board of Health, and as a private citizen, deeply 
interested in the future growth and welfare of Chicago. In treating 
of this subject, I lay no special claim to originality, but I shall simply 
state facts, allowing you to draw your own conclusions ; while, at 
the same time, I shall apply well-established laws and principles, 
which are necessary to the proper elucidation of this question in 
connection with the climate, topography, and diseases of this city. 

The necessity for creating public parks, and on a scale commen- 
surate with the prospective greatness of the city, is recognized by all 
classes of our citizens, and it is to be hoped that the action of those 
who are charged with the responsibility of selecting the locations, 
devising the plans, and providing the means for securing these 
results, may prove wise and judicious, and thus receive the coinmen- 
dations of posterity. 

" Best is Pelasgicum empty," 

was wisely expressed by the Pythian oracle, thereby denoting that 
every large and populous city, as well as Athens, should have its 



6 Public Parks. 

Pelasgicum,or vacant pieces of ground, serving as so many reservoirs 
of pure air, for counteracting the contaminating atmospheric influ- 
ences incident to cities, and the effect of epidemics and contagions. 
In order more thoroughly to appreciate the full import of these 
words, it may be proper to refer to the circumstances from which 
they derive their origin. According to Pausanius, Pelasgicum was 
the name given to the most ancient part of the fortifications of the 
Acropolis at Athens, from having been constructed by the Pelasgii, 
(or "wall builders," as they were called,) who, in the course of their 
migrations, settled in Attica, and were employed by the Athenians 
in the erection of these walls. The rampart raised by this people, 
often mentioned in the history of Athens, included a portion of the 
ground below the wall, at the foot of the rock of Acropolis. This 
had been allotted to the Pelasgii while they resided at Athens, and 
owing to the conspiracy formed by them against the Athenians, they 
were banished ; and such was the abhorrence with which this con- 
spiracy was regarded, that an execration was pronounced on any 
who should build houses on this ground. In consequence of this 
execration, it was not built upon ; and thus being necessarily left 
vacant, the beneficial effects of this open space in the course of time 
became so apparent that the Pythian oracle uttered, 

" Best is Pelasgicum empty ;" 

and what was supposed, at the time, to have been a great curse, 
proved ultimately to be a blessing in disguise. 

May not such be the case with regard to our own city? We 
have already built up its surface from a morass, thus securing a well- 
devised system of drainage, and it is believed, and I think I am not 
stating too much, that, by making use of our local topography, we 
can create parks which shall become the ornament of the city, and 
a blessing to its inhabitants. 

Parks have been aptly termed "the lungs of a city." They are 
emphatically the people's gardens, — places to which the overtasked 
laborer and mechanic of the overcrowded city can, with his wife and 
children, resort to breathe the breath of God's pure air, inhale the 
odors of fresh, blooming flowers, and enjoy the pleasures of a rural 
retreat on a larger scale, amid far richer vegetable forms, than in 
the gardens ci^eated by mere private opulence. 

That the people of this country have a keen love of nature, and of 
the beautiful in art, is evidenced by the general intei-est taken in this 



Public Parks. 7 

subject, and the success which has attended the laying out of the 
Central, Fairmount, Prospect, Druid Hill, and other parks in this 
country. This feeling is extending, and as the squares which are 
found in nearly all our cities no longer satisfy the longings of the 
inhabitants, who now demand the laying out of hundreds of acres 
in a style proportionate to the hopes and expectations of the future 
of the locality. The immense throng that daily resort to such places, 
— not simply the millionaire, or the aristocratic merchant, but the 
laborer, the mechanic, and those from the humblest walks of life, 
coupled with the decorousness of their behaviour, and their cheerful 
compliance with the necessary regulations, — all attest the popu- 
larity and beneficial influence of such dedications. Can we not 
have such resorts in Chicago ? 

It is true that we have not that relief and depression of soil, of 
ledgy rock and deep valley, which are to be found in the Central and 
other parks of this country ; but we can have ample drives, graveled 
walks, fountains, lakes, and all the forms of vegetable and animal 
life which have been acclimated in our latitude. We can have parks 
which shall be the ornament and pride of the city ; where, by easy 
access, our people can enjoy the beauties of nature, and all the 
pleasures of landscape gardening. 

If we analyze the sources of our happiness, we shall find that they 
are reducible to two — external and internal ; but while it is from the 
external world that we derive all our ideas, the office of reflection 
and of imagination is performed in the interior world of thought. 
Man, however much he may boast of the superiority of mind over 
matter, is afe sensitive to external changes as the barometer is to those 
of the atmosphere. A pleasing landscape or a bright sunshine 
exhilerates his spirits, while a dreary waste, or a leaden sky pro- 
duces depression. We associate these ideas of external nature with 
our present sources of happiness or misery, and carry them into our 
conceptions of a future state. 

Hence, in every age, and among every nation, whether Christian 
or Pagan, who have made any progress in intellectual development, 
the idea of Paradise has been one not purely of mental culture, of 
converse and friendship, but one in which the sensuous nature was 
largely to participate. 

Milton has described the abode of our first parents as a combina- 
tion of sensuous delights, with a gorgeousness of word-painting 



8 Public Parks. 

which has never been surpassed, — trees of noblest kind, amid which 
stood the " Tree of Life," 

" High, eminent, blooming ambrosial fruits of vegetable gold ; " 

fresh fountains, watering with many a rill, flowers worthy of 
Paradise, and 

" Rolling on Orient pearl ; " 

groves w^hose trees wept odorous gums and balms ; lawns, and 
palmy hillocks, and flocks grazing the herb ; and 

"Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose;" 

umbrageovis grottos, and caves of cool recess, o'erarched Math 
mantling vine ; murmuring waters falling down the hill-slope, with 
banks myrtle-crowned ; birds making vocal the woods ; and vernal 
air breathing the smell of field and grove. Such was deemed the fit 
residence of our great progenitors before the Fall. 

The Elysium of the ancients was a union of leafy bowers, flowery 
meads, and murmuring brooks, fanned by a genial air, and lighted 
by another sun and other stars. 

Mahomet, while creating a voluptuous paradise, has brought in 
as accessories, groves, fountains, and rivers of bliss ; and Christian 
congregations do not hesitate to join with fervor in singing that 
beautiful hymn, 

" Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, 
Stand dressed in living green." 

These examples show how intimately the forms of external 
nature are associated, not only with our happiness here, but here- 
after ; and howjcleeply they are impressed upon man, whether in a 
savage or civilized state. 

Fi-om the earliest period of history, a love of nature and landscape 
gardening has been fostered and encouraged in the same ratio as 
civilization has advanced. The Jews and Egyptians had their gar- 
dens ; and Nebuchadnezzar, to gratify his wife Amytis, a daughter 
of the king of Medea, who was home-sick, and longed for the pictur- 
esque scenery and mountains of her native land, constructed the 
famous hanging gardens of Babylon. The captive Jews, Phoenicians, 
Syrians, and Egyptians were engaged for years in building such 
works ; and, according to Diodorus and Strabo, nothing had been 
attempted prior to their time to compare, in magnificence and 
grandeur, with what was then accomplished. Among the ruins of 
Ninevah, Layard found traces of gardens ; also, a large tree, which, 
froni its surroundings, he inferred had been an object of adoration. 



Public Parks. 9 

The Chinese paid considerable attention to the ornamenting of 
their gardens, and at one time their attempts at landscape gardening 
were more successful than those of any other nation. To them may 
be traced what is now called the natural system, so much in vogue 
in England, and which has been generally adopted in this country. 

A deep love of nature pervaded the minds of the Hindoos, as is 
manifest in their public grounds and gardens. There was nothing 
striking in the gardens of the Persians, no doubt owing to the want of 
grand and natural scenery. They were I'egarded as places of luxurious 
repose, and were constructed wholly in reference to this end. Trees 
were planted in rows, in order that the wind might draw its currents 
through them ; fountains were interposed, and streams ran through 
them to increase the sensation of coolness. Flowers \vere cultivated 
for perfume and beauty, with here and there a terebinthinate ever- 
green, which was regarded by them as a great luxury. These 
gardens were generally surrounded by an enclosure. 

" The Greeks," according to Hvunboldt, " regarded the vegetable 
world as standing in a manifold and mythical relation to heroes and 
to the gods, who were supposed to avenge every injury inflicted on 
the trees and plants sacred to them. Imagination animated vegetable 
forms with life, but the types of poetry, to which the peculiar 
direction of mental activity among the ancient Greeks limited them, 
gave only partial development to natural scenery." * Homer, Pinder, 
Sophocles, and Euripedes occasionally indulge in descriptions of 
nature. 

Their ideas of landscape gardening, while derived from the Per- 
sians, were much improved upon. They encouraged art more than 
nature. Athens had its public pai'k, called Academia. It was laid 
out by Cimon, who formed pleasant walks, introduced water and 
planted groves. At the entrance an altar dedicated to Love was 
placed, and scattered through the grounds were statues and monu- 
ments of the most worthy citizens. One portion of this park was 
devoted to the exercise of athletic games, and another to contempla- 
tive recreation. Greek civilization made its impress on the Romans, 
and in many respects they were similar, showing that their love of 
nature was not entirely lost sight of by their love of art. Cicero and 
Pliny delighted in descriptions of nature ; and in the poetic works of 
Virgil, Horace, and Tibullus, frequent allusions to natural scenery 
occur. Lucan gives an admirable description of the destruction of 
a Druidic forest on the now treeless shores of Marseilles. Rome, 



lo Public Pa7-ks. 

when in her glory, was proud of her rural retreats and pleasure 
grounds, which were laid out with walks and drives for chariot and 
horseback exercises, with enclosures for wild beasts, apiaries, fiower- 
gardens, and fountains flowing from marble vases. The park proper, 
in the immediate vicinity of the houses, v\"as formal and symmetrical 
with the architecture, and the walls were lined with box and plane 
trees, sheared to the shape of the walls. From the description of the 
younger Pliny of his Tusculan villa, we are led to infer that the 
principal object of Roman landscape gardening was its effect upon 
the perspective ; as here everj'thing w^as arranged with reference to 
the best distant views of the Campagna. In fact the same is the case 
with the grounds and gardens of Italy at the present day, the artistic 
preponderating over the natural. 

The Arabs, when at the height of power and civilization, paid 
some attention to landscape gardening, and carried w^ith them their 
tastes into Spain. This is shown by the fact that the Caliph Ab 
durrahman I. himself laid out a botanical garden at Cordova, and 
caused rare seeds to be collected by his own travelers in Syria and 
other countries of Asia. He planted, near the palace of Rissafah, 
the first date-tree known in Spain, and sang its pi"aises in a poem, 
expressive of plaintive longing for his native Damascus. 

Prescott, in his "Conquest of Mexico," says, "There is no doubt, 
from the accordant testimonies of Hernan Cortes, in his reports to 
the Emperor Charles V., of Bernal Diaz, Gomara Ovieda, and 
Hernandez, that at the time of the conquest of Montezuma's Empire 
there were no menageries and botanic gardens in any part of Europe, 
which could be compared with these of Huaztepec, Chepultepec, 
Iztapalapan, and Tezuco." Humboldt saw two trees ( Taxodiimi 
disticha — Linn.) near Chepultepec, which he supposed to be the 
remnants of an ancient garden or pleasure-ground of Montezuma's, 
which measured thirty-eight feet in circumference. 

In France, Germany, and England, landscape gardening received 
but little attention for many years, and their imitations of the Roman 
and Italian styles were poor, leaving but little of the artistic. The 
Dutch school at one time was foremost. It was a revival of the 
ancient or geometric style, in which statues, vases, and busts were 
interspersed with fountains, and the various forms of the vegetable 
kingdom. 

Landscape gardening is a word of modern coinage, first used by 
the poet Shenstone. In England but little attention was paid to the 



Public Parks. il 

art of gardening until the time of Addison, when Bridgeman, the 
court gardener, in the palace grounds at Kensington, acted upon the 
suggestions received from the descriptions of travelers of the imita- 
tions of nature which the Chinese made use of in their gardens. 
Pope, in his garden at Twickenham, laid aside formality, imitating 
the natural. Addison's garden at Rugby was informal without 
being picturesque. " Kent was the first man who really formed a 
landscape, sweeping away the rubbish which represented the ancient 
style. He undertook the creation of scenery upon the ground at his 
command, on the same principles that he would select a subject in 
nature for his canvas. The radical change which followed witnessed 
the destruction of noble avenues and terraces by the imitators of 
Kent, in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the ground, and 
landscape gardening soon became a mechanical business instead of 
an art, which Kent had made it." * 

It was not until after the publication, by Gilpin, of his various 
"Picturesque Views," and the "Essays on the Picturesque," by Sir 
Uvedale Price, in which the true principle of art applicable to the 
creation of scenery, was laboriously studied and carefully defined, 
that a revival of the art took place. The poetry of Shenstone, 
Mason, and Knight assisted in bringing about this result. The 
most distinguished English landscape gardeners that have flourished 
since the commencement of the last century, have been Humphrey 
Repton, who died in 1818, and John Claudius Loudon, who died 
in 1843. They developed and carried to its greatest perfection the 
modern or natural style of landscape gardening, as is evidenced at 
Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough ; Chatsworth, the 
seat of the Duke of Devonshire, where there are scenes illustrative 
of almost every style of the art ; and also at Woburn Abbey ; 
Ashbridge ; and Arundel Castle. More recently the writings of 
Paxton and Kemp have done much to improve and foster this taste 
among the English. Soon after the adoption of the natural style in 
England, it became fashionable upon the Continent; "yet, in the 
neighborhood of many of the capitals, especially those of the south 
of Europe, the taste for the geometric or ancient style prevails to a 
considerable extent ; partially, no doubt, because that style admits, 
with more facility, of those classical and architectural accompani- 
ments of vases, statues, busts, etc., the passion for which pervades 
a people rich in ancient and modei'n sculptural works of art. 
Indeed, many of the gai'dens on the Continent are more striking 



Downing: "Landscape Gardetiing." 



12 Public Parks. 

from their nuinerous sculpturesque ornaments, interspersed with 
fountains and jets d' eau., than for the beauty or rarity of their 
vegetation, or from their arrangement." * 

The name Park is derived from the French parque., pare, 
(i. e., a locus Inclustis,) formerly a large quantity of ground inclosed 
and pi"ivileged for the keeping of beasts of the chase, particularly the 
deer, by the King's grant or prescription. These grants were made 
by the kings of England to the nobles ; and as the country became 
populated, these parks were selected as residences, and in the course 
of time were considered as luxurious appendages to the dwellings of 
the rich. 

The word park has different significations, but that in which 
we are now interested has grown out of its application, centuries 
ago, simply to hunting grounds ; the choicest lands for such pur- 
poses being those in which the beasts of the chase thrived best, and 
consequently were most abundant. Sites were chosen, in which it 
was easy for them to turn from rich herbage to clear water, from 
warm sunlight to cool shade ; that is to say, by preference, ranges of 
well-watered dale-land, broken by open groves, and dotted with 
spreading trees, undulating in surface, but not rugged. In some 
parts of Britain the word park is still employed in its original sense — 
to denote a field or enclosure ; but more generally applied to the 
enclosed grounds around a mansion, designated in Scotland by 
another term of French origin — policy. The park, in this sense, not 
only includes the lawn, but all that is devoted to the growth of 
timber, pasturage for deer, sheep, etc., in connection with the 
mansion, and to pleasure walks or drives, or to purposes of enjoy- 
ment, in contradistinction to those of economical use. Gay parties 
of pleasure occasionally met in these parks, and when these meetings 
occurred, the enjoyment otherwise obtained in them was found to be 
increased. Hence, instead of mere hunting-lodges and hovels for 
game-keepers, extensive buildings and accommodations, devoted 
frequently to festive purposes, were, after a time, provided within the 
enclosures. Then it was found that people took pleasure in them 
without regard to the attractions of the chase, or of conversation ; 
and this pleasure was perceived to be. in some degree, related to the 
scenery, and in some degree to the peculiar manner of appreciation 
which occurred in them ; and this was also found to be independent 
of intellectual gifts, tranquilizing and restorative to the powers most 
tasked in ordinary social duties, and stimulating only in a healthy 

* Downing: '■^ Landscape Gardening^ 



Public Parks. 13 

and recreative way to the imagination. Hence, after a time, parks 
began to be regarded, and to be maintained with reference, more than 
to anything else, to the convenient accommodations of numbers of 
people, desirous of moving for recreation among scenes that should 
be gratifying to the taste or imagination. Hagley Park, for many 
years, was considered the finest in England, although there are many 
there now much handsomer, averaging from one to five miles in 
diameter ; and many of them are open to the public with slight 
restrictions. As the power of the people has increased the Royal 
Parks have been more adapted to their wants. 

In the present century, not only have the old parks • been thus 
maintained and improved, but many new parks have been formed 
exclusively for the purposes of recreation, enjoyment, and health, 
especially within and adjoining considerable towns ; and it is upon 
our knowledge of the latter that our simplest conception of a town 
park is founded.* 

Nearly all the towns, villages, and cities have their pleasure- 
grounds in some form, or private parks open to them. In addition, 
all have their cricket-grounds and commons, where the old meet to 
gossip, and the young to indulge in various athletic games. 



PARKS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

The public parks of London are Kensington Garden, 263 acres ; 
Hyde Park, 389 acres ; Green Park, 55 acres ; St. James Park, 59 
acres (all of which are connected in a chain, though partly sepa- 
rated) ; Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, 473 acres ; Battersea Park, 
175 acres; and Kensington Park containg 55 acres. 

The Royal Parks in the vicinity of London are also much resorted 
to : — Windsor, 3,800 acres ; Hampton Court and Burley, 1,812 acres ; 
Richmond, 2,468 acres ; and the Royal Gardens at Kew, 684 acres. 
Epping Forest and others are easily reached, making 3,000 acres in 
the city, and about 1 1 ,000 in the vicinity that are open to the public. 

The grounds of the Horticultural Society and the Crystal Palace 
are open to the public for a small entrance fee. Victoria Park is 
among the most frequented ; here 130,000 visitors have been counted 
in one day. The fashionable drive of London is the Ring-Road, in 
Hyde Park, three miles long and from twenty-seven to sixty feet 
wide ; and another of a mile long and thirty-six feet wide. The 
fashionable riding avenue is in this park, and is ninety feet wide and 



14 Public Parks. 

a mile in length. There is not much room for riding or driving in 
the other parks. 

PhcEnix Park, in Dublin, contains 1,752 acres, and is one of the 
best natural parks in the world, but is not well laid out or well 
kept. Birkenhead Park, near Liverpool contains 1S3 acres, designed 
and constructed by Sir Joseph Paxton and Mr. Kemp, and is one of 
the best laid out and most complete, for its age, in Europe. Several 
new ones have been laid out, ^vith villa districts about them, con- 
nected by broad pleasure drives, upon which, in 1867, $1,640,000 
were expended. 

Birmingham has a park recently laid out, where an entrance fee 
of a penny is charged, by which funds are raised to defray the 
expenses incident to its purchase and maintenance. As soon as 
paid for, admission will be free. Halifax has fine parks, Derby and 
Arboretum, both of which were provided by benevolent citizens. 
Manchester, Bradford, and other manufacturing towns have recently 
laid out parks, the result of subscriptions or joint-stock companies 
Public promenades are common in England, among w^hich may be 
cited the old city Myalls and the river bank above the town of Chester, 
the common and old castle grounds at Ludlow, the castle garden and 
cathedral grounds at Herefoi'd, the river banks at Lincoln, and the 
cathedral green at Salisbury and Winchester. 



PARKS ON THE CONTINENT. 

The garden of the Tuileries, with the Champs Elysees, in Paris, 
makes the finest urban promenade in the world. In the centre is an 
avenue of horse chestnuts three miles in length. On either side, in 
the gardens, are groves, shrubberies, and parterres of flowers. The 
gai'den of the Luxembourg is another interior promenade laid out in 
formal style, with an avenue, groves, flower beds, and a rose garden 
of a mile in circumference. The gardens of the Louvre are also very 
fine. There are also many other gardens and squares in Paris. 
Many of the streets are planted with trees. Some of the boulevards 
are the levelled ramparts planted with trees. The boulevards 
exterieurs are an interupted series of broad streets, of an aggregate 
length of seventeen miles, lined with trees. 

The avenue de L' Imperatrice is a straight pi'omenade between 
Paris and the Bois de Boulogne, three hundred feet wide. It con- 
sists of a cai'riage way sixty feet wide, a pad for saddle horses, and 



Public Parks. 15 

a graveled walk on either side, each forty feet wide ; on the outside 
of all is a slope of turf, planted in the rear with a group of trees and 
shrubs in the natural style ; back of this, on both sides, is a narrow 
road adapted to traffic, which also gives access to a line of detached 
villas. 

The famous Bois de Boulogne is an ancient royal forest in the 
suburbs of Paris, It remained nearly in its natural state until 1855, 
when Napoleon III. commenced its improvement, and this work is 
now regarded as one of his most popular acts. It contains 2,158 
acres, thus divided : wood, 607 acres ; open turf, S75 acres ; water, 
174 acres; roads, 365 acres; nurseries and flower-beds, 171 acres; 
length of carriage road, 36 miles ; bridle path, 7 miles ; and walks, 
16 miles. The Bois de Vincennes is a natural forest, the improve- 
ment of which was commenced several years ago, but discontinued, 
and is now chiefly used for reviewing troops and for artillery 
purposes. Work has recently been commenced on it again. Men- 
ceau and Buttes de Chaumont are new parks, which are very 
popular — the last being quite unique in design. The Jardin des 
Plants, a zoological as well as botanical garden, near Paris, is much 
frequented. 

At Frankfort, Leipsic, and Vienna, pleasure grounds have been 
pi^ovided by razing the wall, and filling the moat, and by the skillful 
arrangement of the materials, making the ground-work of a garden 
in the natural style. In other cities the leveled ramparts have been 
made into broad roads, bordered with trees. The Boulevards of 
Brussels are straight streets, 125 feet wide, with rows of trees 
between them, a walk 21 feet wide ; carriage-road, 36 feet wide ; a 
soft graveled horseback road, 21 feet wide ; a business road, 30 feet 
wide, with a flagged walk for rainy weather. Houses are on these 
boulevards, in front of which are private gardens, or fore-courts. 
Brussels has also an old park, and two botanical and zoological 
gardens. 

The Prater is the principal rural promenade at Vienna, and has 
a straight carriage-road cher a mile in length, with a walk on one 
side, and an equestrian pad on the other. Near the city it contains 
a great number of coffee and play houses ; but being five miles in 
length, portions of it are thoroughly secluded and rural. At one 
time it was the most frequented park in the world, the Bois de 
Boulogne and the Central Park being more frequented at this time. 



1 6 Public Parks. 

Munich has its Hofgarten, or Royal Park, and the English gar- 
den which was laid out under the direction of Count Rumford, and 
is about four miles long, and a half mile wide. The Sonnenstrasse 
in this city is a beautiful street — in fact one of the handsomest in 
Europe. 

The Thiergarten, at Berlin, contains over 300 acres, laid out in 
straight drives and walks. The Prussian Royal Gardens of Sans 
Souci, Charlottenberg, and Heiligensee, are extensive grounds, 
though rather stiff and formal in appearance. Fine public grounds 
are also to be found in Dresden, Stuttgart, Hanover, Brunswick, 
Baden, Cassel, Darmstadt, Gotha, Weimar, Schwcetzingen, Toplitz, 
Prague, and Hamburg. Those of Antwerp, the Hague, and War- 
saw are remarkable for their beauty. In all German public gardens, 
coffee-houses are an adjunct, and music is furnished by the govern- 
ment. 

The summer gardens of St. Petersburgh are very fine, though 
not large, and are kept in the most careful manner. Among these 
is the Catherinehoff, a perfect gem, and the fashionable promenade 
of the city. Many of the islands of the Neva contain pleasant 
gardens, and the Tzenskoe Selo is one of the most remarkable in the 
world. It is the residence of the Imperial family, and consists of 
350 acres. 

Stockholm has many pleasant walks, and the Djingard, or deer 
park, is beautifully kept and three miles in circumference. The 
Haga Park is picturesque, having water communication with its 
different parts and with the city. Copenhagen contains many places 
of public resoi't, but the most notable promenade is the royal deer 
park, (Dyrhave,) a noble forest. 

In Italy the chief public resorts are the gardens attached to 
the villas. The Cascine of Florence, on the banks of the Arno, 
commands fine views, and the drive on the Pincian Hill at Rome, 
has magnificent views in the distance. The fashionable drive at 
Naples is on a broad street called the Riviera di Chiaja, near the 
bay, but separated from it by a public garden. 

Nearly all the Spanish and Portuguese towns are provided with 
promenades. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING IN THE UNITED STATES. 
In this country, until recently, but little attention has been paid 
to landscape gardening, and nearly all the improvements of the 



Public Parks. 17 

grounds of our finest country residences have been made under the 
direction of the owners themselves, suggested by their own good 
taste, in many instances improved by the study of European authors, 
or by personal inspection of the finest places abroad. The first 
botanical garden was laid out and planted by John Bartram, one 
of the pioneer botanists of this country, near Philadelphia. Some 
of the trees planted by him are still to be seen ; among them the 
enormous cypress, the destruction of which he feared by the British 
army after the battle of Brandywine, which so much preyed upon his 
mind that his death was hastened by it. Humphrey Marshall also 
laid out a botanical garden near West Chester, Pa. 

One of the most celebrated places, known as the " Woodlands," 
the seat of the Hamilton family, near Philadelphia, was perhaps the 
best specimen of landscape gardening in this country in the early 
part of the present century. These grounds w^ere for a long time 
under the care of the distinguished botanist Pursh. 

Judge Peters's seat, five miles from Philadelphia, was, fifty years 
ago, the finest representative of the geometric, or ancient style, in 
America. One of the chief attractions of this place, which still 
exists, is a fine avenue of hemlocks, planted I30 years ago, several 
with English ivy, also a chestnut tree planted by Washington, still in 
full vigor. 

Lemon Hill, a short distance above the Fairmount Water Works, 
on the Schuylkill river, was, thirty years ago, the most perfect speci- 
men of the geometric mode in this country. Through the liberality 
of Mr. Pratt it was open to the public. 

Clermont, on the Hudson, then the residence of Chancellor 
Livingston, was laid out in the geometric style, with a decided 
French impress, and at one time was quite noted. 

Waltham House, about nine miles from Boston, was, forty years 
ago, one of the finest places in the country. The park, in addition 
to clusters of native wood, was enriched with English limes and 
elms, w^atered by a fine stream, and well stocked with deer. 

The first work published in this country on landscape gardening 
was the American Gardener's Calendar, by Bernard McMahon, of 
Philadelphia ; and the only practitioner of any note was M. Parmen- 
tier, of Brooklyn, who emigrated to this country in 1834. He gave 
to landscape gardening quite an impetus, and to his taste and skill 
we are indebted for many of the magnificent places on the Hudson ; 
also others in different States and Canada. The taste for rural 



1 8 Public Parks. 

improvement was slowly and gradually increasing, and the evidence 
of the growing wealth and prosperity of our citizens manifested itself 
in the increase of elegant cottages and villa residences on the banks 
of our noble rivers, along our rich valleys, and wherever nature 
seems to invite b}' her rich and varied charms. This feeling or taste 
for improvement is contagious, and once fairly appreciated and 
established in one portion of the country, it soon became disseminated 
in other portions, until it has now become quite general.* 

The progress that landscape gardening has made during the last 
twenty-five years is truly astonishing, and to no one are v\^e so much 
indebted as to the lamented Downing. The impress of his genius 
is visible everywhere, and monuments to his taste and skill are to be 
found throughout the entire land. On the Hudson are to be found 
some of the finest specimens of the art, and nowhere in the Union 
is it so far advanced. 

The environs of Boston are more highly cultivated than those of 
any other city in North America ; in fiict, in certain directions the 
whole neighborhood may be considered a landscape garden. In the 
neighborhood of Baltimore are found a number of fine old places, 
several of them being as elaborate and magnificent as any in the 
country. Others are to be found scattered throughout different 
States, even in sections comparatively new, showing conclusively 
that a taste for the beautiful in art and nature is fast being dissemi- 
nated among the people. 

It is only a few years since the establishment of rural cemeteries 
was commenced in the United States, owing to the crowded and 
confined state of our burial grounds within the large cities and 
their manifest injurious influence upon health. Such has been the 
progress of this movement, and its importance and necessity so 
apparent, that it has been almost universally adopted, and intramural 
interments, under any circumstances, in many of the cities are totally 
prohibited. As a legitimate result, arising from the growing taste 
for landscape gardening and the promptings of aftection and respect 
for the memorv of the sacred dead, we have in the United States 
the finest rural cemeteries in the world, which we think may be 
regarded as a sure evidence of our advancement in civilization and 
enlightenment. 

* T>ov!X\m^'s " Landscape Gardou'ug." 



Piiblic Parks. 19 

PARKS AND PUBLIC GROUNDS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

We have, however, no finished parks in the United States, and it 
is only within recent date that much attention has been paid to this 
subject. It is true that there is scarcely a town that does not have its 
square or promenade, but in its European signification there are but 
few that deserve that appellation. Although there is probably not a 
village, town, or embryo city laid out that does not devote a portion 
of it for public uses, still the importance of such resorts and their 
proper improvement is not thoroughly appreciated. This, no doubt, 
arises from various causes ; among them, in certain sections, the 
sparseness of population and the absence of wealth and the active 
life led by a majority of our people, who~ take comparatively no time 
for recreation or pleasure, little dreaming of the expenditure of 
mental and physical force incident to such a life, and the premature 
decay which inevitably follows ; also, the false utilitarian views taken 
by many of the subject. 

BOSTON AND NEW ENGLAND. 

The " Common," so long the boast and delight of Boston, is a 
small park of forty-eight acres of ground, of an undulating character, 
surrounded by an iron railing, in which are found about i ,300 trees, 
nearly all of them having been planted. It dates to 1634, and by a 
clause in the city charter it is made public property forever, and 
cannot be sold or exchanged. There are many walks in it, laid out 
more with a view of communicating with entrances from all direc- 
tions, than any attempt at the picuresque. The walks are spacious, 
shaded by magnificent trees over a century old ; the one on Beacon 
street being particularly unique and pleasant. The public garden, 
which was once a portion of the Common, is now separated from it 
by Charles street, and will soon rival it for beauty and usefulness. 

Throughout the New England States the public grounds of many 
of the towns are planted with trees without much arrangement or 
order, showing chiefly the beauty and value which the trees acquire 
by age. This is particularly the case with Cambridge, New Haven, 
Springfield, Portland, Hartford and Northampton ; in fact, the prin- 
cipal charm of many of the villages is the trees that line the streets. 
Among the most striking may be mentioned Hadley, Deerfield and 
Norwich. 

The many noble elms that are found in the public grounds and 
streets of New Haven, which were planted mainly through the 



20 Piihlic Parks. 

instrumentality of Hillliouse, at the close of the eighteenth century, 
have justly obtained for that city the soubriquet of the " City of 
Elms." There are at New Haven several public squares. The 
Wooster, containing five acres, is laid out with taste ; the Green, 
containing sixteen acres, shaded by its graceful and elegant elms ; 
and the Brewster park, containing fifty-five acres. 

At Providence there is a park planted with elms, nearly a mile 
in circumference, arovind a cove of the Providence river. The pub- 
lic park at Hartford has not been what might be termed a success, 
owing to its being laid out on a difficult piece of ground, with an 
ill-digested plan. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

The public squares of Philadelphia have long been the pride of 
that city. Independence Square, in the rear of Independence Hall, 
is one of the oldest and finest. Washington square, in olden times, 
was the Potter's Field, where, during the Revolutionary war, over 
two thousand soldiers of the American Arm}', who had died from 
wounds and camp-fever, were buried. It was last used as a place of 
interment during the prevalence of yellow fever in 1793, and was 
finally closed in 1795, and laid out as a public square in 18 15. In 
this square is laid the foundation of a monument to Washington. 
Franklin square is kept in good order, and is mainly distinguished 
for the deer, squirrels and peacocks that are kept in it. Penn, Ritten- 
house, Logan, Fairhill and Norris squares are of more recent origin, 
all being well cared for and kept in a tasteful manner. The grounds 
in the vicinity of the Fairmount Water Works, on the Schuylkill 
river, are tastefully laid out, and for years have been a favorite resort. 
Several years ago, Lemon Hill, about a half mile from the water- 
works, was purchased and laid out as a public park. It was at one 
time the handsomest villa in America, containing 120 acres, to which 
additions have been made of 80 acres. The alterations were designed 
by Messrs. Sidney and Adams. These, with the magnificent 
trees and fine natural position, make it already a delightful place. 
Additions to the grounds have since been made on the opposite side 
of the river, which are being improved, and will soon be connected 
by a bridge over the vSchuylkill. 

An act was passed at the last session of the Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania, increasing the boundaries of Fairmount park, on both sides 
of the Schuylkill, and including a portion of the ground lying on the 
banks of the romantic Wissahickon, making a total ai^ea of 2,700 



Public Parks. 21 

acres. Philadelphia has lately received as a "Christmas gift" from 
Jesse Geoi'ge and his sister, Rebecca George, eighty-three acres, 
known as " George's Hill," on the west side of the Schuylkill. With 
these additions it will not be presumptuous on the part of Philadel- 
phia to claim that no city of this continent, and probably of the 
world, has more natural advantages and unsurpassed beauty than 
are included within the limits of Fairmount park. 

WASHINGTON. 

Recently, considerable attention has been paid to the improve- 
ment and care of the grounds attached to our colleges, hospitals, and 
other public buildings. We are greatly indebted to the late Downing, 
for the taste and skill displayed in the arrangement of the public 
grounds at Washington, particularly those of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tute and LaFayette Square. The grounds of the Capitol and those 
of the White House have long been favorite promenades. 

The project of a new mansion for the President, and of the estab- 
lishment of a great National Park, has been frequently agitated, while 
the engineer officers have already examined the topography of the 
country adjacent to Washington for this purpose. Mr. Corcoran has 
offered to donate a large tract of land upon certain conditions. It is 
thought that at least i,Soo acres of ground lying east of Rock Creek, 
and north of Columbia College, will be selected, as it is well adapted 
by nature for the purpose contemplated, and can be improved at 
comparatively small expense. 

It has also been proposed to make this park a working model of 
the United States, "to delineate, if not reproduce in miniature, the 
topography of the Continent ; to set Huron and Ontario in reduced 
scale upon a living map some two miles long, not in water colors, 
but in the element itself; to lead a toy Mississippi from its baby 
nursery through a little continent to a small Gulf of Mexico. The 
St. Lawrence and the Colorado, and all other great rivers, are to be 
represented by mimic streams, and all the States and Territories are 
to be represented, preserving their relative position and proportion. 
It is also proposed that museums shall be erected upon each of these 
little representative tracts, and the States and citizens shall be invited 
to contribute to their cabinets, specimens of the natural and artificial 
productions of the States represented." 

I hope that nothing of the kind will be attempted, for it will most 
surely result in failure, as landscape gardening cannot be successfully 



22 Public Parks. 

restricted to such arbitrary rules. There are plenty of other ways 
by, which its national character can be shown, and every portion of 
our country represented, in full consonance with the beautiful in art 
and nature. 

NEW YORK. 

The Central Park of New York is one of the largest and most 
important works of the kind, not alone in this country but the world. 
The genius of Downing laid the foundation for it, but it was not until 
after his death that the ground was appropriated for this purpose by 
an act of the Legislature of New York, and it was not until the 
close of 1857 ^'^^'^ the actual purchase of the land was completed. 
Premiums for designs amounting to $4,000 were at this time offered 
by the Commissioners intrusted with the conduct of the enterprise, 
and early in June, 1S58, the plan submitted by Fred. Law Olmsted 
and Calvert Vaux was adopted by the board, after extraordinary 
competition, thirty-five studies having been presented, and some of 
them from Europe. 

The park is two and one-half miles long and half a mile wide, 
and is being formed in two parts, connected by a narrow strip of 
ground containing the old and new reservoirs for supplying the city 
with water ; the former a quadrangular basin of mason work, the 
latter of an irregular curved outline, with an earth embankment to 
retain the water — in all covering about 150 acres. The original park 
inclosure contains 77^ acres, to which have been added 68 acres at 
one time, and more recently Manhattan square ; so that it now con- 
tains 862 acres. It is laid out in the first place, to obtain a large 
unbroken surface of smooth meadow-like ground, even where the 
natural obstacles to this mode are to be overcome by heavy expen- 
ditures. The immediate borders of these spaces are planted in a 
manner to hide or disguise any incongruous quality in the grounds 
beyond. The rocky and broken surface which originally charac- 
terized the whole site, however, admits of the application of this 
evident preference of the designers to but a small portion of the 
grounds, while elsewhere its capacities for picturesque effect have 
been revealed. The different classes of communication are so 
arranged that by a peculiar system of arched passages, it never 
becomes necessary for a person on foot to cross the surface of the 
carriage track, or the horseman to cross the carriage roads, though 
he may ride on them if he prefer.* 

*01msted. 



Public Parks. 



23 



The following statistics show how the land is appropriated. 
Area occupied by carriage roads 49 acres, 9 miles in length ; by 
bridle roads 15 acres, 5 miles in length ; by walks 38 acres, z^\ 
miles in length ; making a total of 103 acres ; by rock surface, 
mainly without soil or shrubbery, 34 acres ; by park ground fertilized 
or chiefly fertilized, and in trees, shrubbery, or in open lawns, 
exclusive of reservoirs, roads, walks, pads, rock surface, &c., 536 
acres. 

The subjoined statistics show that the enhanced value of property, 
by the laying out of such works is more than ample to meet the 
interest on the cost of construction : 

Increased value of property in XII, XIX, and XXII 

Wards since 1856 $75,675,750.00 

The rate of tax for 1S67 is 2.67, yielding in the 

increased valuation above stated an increased 

tax of $2,020,542.53 

The total expenditures for construction from May 

I. 1S57, to January i, 1S68, is $5,185,299.11 

The cost of land of the Park to the City, is 5,028,844.10 

Total cost of Park up to this time, $10,214,143.21 

The annual interest on the cost of the land and 
improvement of the Park up to this time at six 
per cent $612,848.58 

Deduct one per cent, on $399,300 of the above 

stock, issued at five per cent $3,993.00 

$608,855.58 
Excess of increased tax in three wards over 

interest in cost of land and improvements,. . . . $1,411,686.95 

These tables show an extraordinary rapidity of increase in the value of 
the real estate in the upper portions of the Island — the Nineteenth Ward 
being chieily conspicuous for the advance in its value. This is not entirely, 
but largely, attributable to the improvements of the Park.* 

The other public grounds in the city of New York are the 
Battery, containing 30 acres ; City Hall Park, 10^ acres ; Washington 
Parade Ground, 9^ acres ; Union Square, 4 acres ; Stuyvesant Park, 4 
acres ; Tompkins Square, 10^ acres ; Madison Square, 7 acres ; St. 
John's Park, 4 acres ; Gramercy Park, i^ acres : — making a total of 
943 acres of ground devoted to park purposes in New York. It may 
be said to the credit of the Central Park Commissioners, and in fact 
this may be said with regard to all the different Park Commissioners 
throughout the country, that although their expenditures have been 
enormous, they have never been charged with dishonesty. 

* Eleventh Annual Report of Com7nissio)iers of the Central Park. 



24 Public Parks. 



BALTIMORE. 



Druid Hill Park, at Baltimore, was opened October 19, i860, by 
a grand celebration, and an address by Mayor Swann. This site is 
one of the most ancient estates in Maryland, the patent bearing date 
16SS, and is situated in the northern part of the city, containing 550 
acres. The name was suggested by the great number and magnifi- 
cent oaks which abound everywhere upon it, and was selected on 
account of the " suitability of the location to the wants of the people, 
accessibility to the great masses of the community, and its facilities 
for conversion to the plans and uses of a public park ; also its natural 
beauty and attractiveness, and the cost of placing it in a, condition to 
meet the demands of the public." * 

A large portion of the Park is covered by a primitive foi^est of 
oak, hickory, tulip, linden, maple, dogwood, &c. The ground is high 
and gently undulating, with here and there a deep ravine, in which 
are found springs and running brooks. It commands a fine view 
from its height of Chesapeake Bay, Fort McHenry, and the city of 
Baltimore. 

This park has its origin in the prudence and forethought of Mayor 
Swann, who was impressed with the idea that the city passenger 
railways should pay something as a compensation for the use of the 
streets, and, in his address, he says, — "While Baltimore desired a park, 
and while she was in no condition to impose additional taxes upon 
her people, it occurred to the friends of this measure that she could 
do nothing more wise or beneficial, after placing her tariff on an 
equal footing with her sister cities, to avail herself of the only oppor- 
tunity likely to secure an adequate bonus to be applied to the 
purchase of a public park. Accordingly, when the ordinance 
creating these passenger railways was presented for my approval, I 
deemed it my duty to insist, as a condition of the franchise, that one- 
fifth of the gross receipts should go into the treasury as a fund for 
this purpose." 

This was done, and up to December 31, 1868, the sum of 
$547,546.19 has been received from this sourcie, which has been 
applied to the payment of the interest of the park bonds, and its 
improvement. The original cost was $513,193.44; this, with the 
additions, improvements and interest, amovmted, as the total cost, 
December 31, 186S, to $1,302,410.61.! 



* Mayor Swann's Dedication Address, 

t Ninth A nnual Report Park Commission. 



Public Parks. 25 

Druid Hill Park has been slowly and steadily improved, and will, 
no doubt, ere long be one of the most delightful resorts in the country. 
In 1863, Silver Spring was highly ornamented by the liberality of 
Gerard T. Hopkins; and in 1S64, Edmund's Well was adorned by 
the munificence of John A. Needles. Various works of art, and 
specimens of natural history, such as swan and deer, have been pre- 
sented by liberal donors. In 1863, additions were made to this 
park — among them Mount Vernon Cemetery. Chapman Lake was 
completed in 1866, and covei's sixty-five acres. 

Mr. Daniels, who had laid out a number of rural cemeteries, was 
first employed to adapt this beautiful old private park to public pur- 
poses. The purchase and improvement of this ground has enhanced 
the value of property in its vicinity more than 250 per cent. 

Patterson's park was purchased in i860, for $42,642.50. It is 
situated in the eastei'n part of the city, and commands a fine view of 
the harbor and bay. On it are the remains of a fortification erected 
for the defence of the city in 1S12. It contains thirty-five and one- 
half acres, six of which are covered by fine trees. The cost, to 
Dec. 31, 1868, with interest and improvements, was $130,593.78, 
making the total expenditure for park purposes, by the city of 
Baltimore, to that time, $1,433,013.30. Both parks have, for the last 
five years, been under the management of August Paul. Although 
the expenditures have not been lavish, great improvements have 
been made, reflecting the highest credit upon the commission for 
judicious and economic management. 

It is said that Mr. Hopkins has donated Clifton Park to the city 
of Baltimore, for public purposes. This is one of the most elaborate 
places in the United States. In addition to a fine and costly house, 
there is nowhere in this country, probably, so large a range of glass, 
with such diversified grounds, great variety of trees, shrubs, walks, 
lawns, and large pieces of ornamental water, containing numerous 
islands, planted with masses of liiododendrons and evergreen shrubs, 
connected by tasteful and appropriate bridges. 

BROOKLYN. 

Prospect Park, Brooklyn, although of more recent origin, bids 
fair to become a formidable rival to the Central Park of New York, 
as the ground in some respects is better adapted for the purpose. 
The land had been selected for some time prior to the final pur- 
chase, in 1864. It was not until 1866, that much improvement was 
made, when those accomplished landscape gardeners, Olmsted and 



26 Public Parks. 

Vaux, -were placed in charge. The design is truly beautiful, and if 
carried out as commenced, with the park-way, will make Prospect 
Park and its vicinity one of the loveliest spots in this country. 

Since 1866, 2^o acres of the 550, of which it is composed, have 
been under treatment, and 19,000 feet in length of carriage, and 
17,000 feet of walk completed, and over 100,000 trees and shrubs set 
out ; and since October 20, 1866, when carriages were first admitted, 
it has become quite a favorite resort. 

The land originally cost the city June 15, 1864, $1,357,606.27 

First addition, Feb. 4, 1866, 158,558.41 

Second addition, May 27, 1867, 752,745.02 

Total cost of land, $2,268,909.70 

Cost of improvements to Dec. 31, 1867, 1,169,604.70 

Total cost, $3,438,514.40 

The interest, payable semi-annually, is raised by annual tax on the First, 
Twelfth and the Twentieth Wards of the city. Soon after work commenced 
in the park, the price of lots rose rapidly in the neighborhood, and recent 
sales show increasing value. The assessed value of the real estate in the 
Eight Ward, exclusive of the amount assessed for buildings, has increased 
over 30 per cent, during the last year, while the increased value of the real 
estate of the Eight and Ninth Wards, being the two wards immediately 
contiguous to the park, has for the same time, amounted to nearly two-thirds 
of the increased value of the entire city. A similar increase from the same 
cause, though not to the same extent, is perceptible in the Twentieth Ward, 
which comes next in contiguity to the park, and doubtless an increase exists 
in several of the other wards, particularly the Tenth. 

The records of the Board of City Assessors show that the assessed value 
of real estate in the year 1864 was : 

In the Eighth Ward, $4,913,274 

In the Ninth Ward, 7,966,471 

In the Twentieth Ward, 7,069,650 

Total, $19,949,395 

The same record for the year 1867 shows : 

In the Eighth Ward, $ 7,983,200 

In the Ninth Ward, 10,743,797 

In the Twentieth Ward, 8,705,090 

Total in three wards, $27,432,087 

Increased in valuation since active operations 

commenced in parks, $7,482,692 

The additional tax which was raised from this increased valuation for the 
year 1867, was $280,692, while the annual interest on the whole park debt, as 
it now stands, is $229,219, showing an annual increase of revenue to the 
city, from three wards alone, of $51,473.* 

* EigJith Ainuial Re/iort of Commissioners of Prospect Fnrk. 



Public Parks. 27 

At the request of the Common Council, the Legislature placed 
four of the smaller parks under the charge of the Board of Prospect 
Park, viz., the Carroll, City, Washington (thirty acres), and City 
Hall parks. In the latter are to be placed the remains of the Prison- 
ship martyrs. Washington Park was laid out in 184S, and although 
plans have been made for its improvement, it has been proposed to 
lay it out in lots, and sell them for the benefit of the city. There is 
a cemeteiy included, in Prospect Park, from w^hich the bodies are, 
however, to be removed. 

SAVANNAH, NEW ORLEANS, SAN FRANCISCO, DETROIT, AND 
CLEVELAND. 

Savannah has a great many small public squares, some of which 
are laid out with much taste, and many of the streets are lined with 
the Pride of China trees, presenting a beautiful and unique aspect. 
New Orleans has its Jackson Square, formerly the Place cT ArmeS, 
which was laid out at the foundation of the city, and which has 
recently been much improved. In it is the equestrian statue of 
Gen. Jackson, by Clark Mills. Upon the granite block whereon it 
stands, Gen. Butler, while in the military occupation of the city, 
caused to be engraved, "The Union, it must be preserved." La 
Fayette Square, in another portion of the city, is pleasantly laid out. 
There are also several smaller squares. Owing to the peculiar 
manner in which Detroit is laid out, there are many pieces of ground 
of different sizes and shapes, intended for the public use. Some ot 
them are now being improved, and when completed will add much 
to the appearance and beauty of that city. San Francisco has 
twelve squares, but the Plaza, or Portsmouth Square, is the only one 
improved. Cleveland has a fine public square, ornamented with a 
statue of Perry. Mr. Nicholson proposes to give to this city, for the 
purposes of a public park, from two hundred to two hundred and 
fifty acres of ground, lying on both sides of Rock river, provided the 
city will expend in its improvement, the sum of $50,000 per year 
for ten years. 

CINCINNATI. 

Until recently, Cincinnati has had no place that could be called a 
park. The first effort in supplying this want was the conversion of 
an old cemetery into Washington Park, containing four and a half 
acres, almost in the heart of the city ; and it looks very prettily, with 
its lake, fountains, walks, slopes, and venerable ti'ees. The next 



28 Public Parks. 

step was to form Lincoln Park, first called West-End Park, contain- 
ing- seven acres, with its large, handsome lake, and beautiful green 
island, and which was a great improvement to the West End, 
Hopkins, containing one and a half acres, and the City Park, one 
and a fourth acres, are within the built-up parts of the city. 

It was not until the water supply question was agitated, and the 
necessity for a new reservoir of fair cajDacity became imperative, 
that the idea of combining a large park and reservoir became 
popular, four years ago. A portion of the high grounds boldly over- 
looking the Ohio river, in the eastern part of the city, was selected, 
known as Longworth's Garden of Eden, as the proper location for 
the reservoir, to give sufficient head to the water supply. Combined 
with this advantage was anothei" — that nature had so formed the 
ground as to leave it susceptible of easy landscape improvement. It 
contains 156 acres, 14 of which will be covered by water. There are 
at this time over three miles of avenues laid out, two of which are 
nearly graded, so that early in the spring the broken stone and 
gravel can be put on, forming one of the most delightful drives in 
the vicinity of the cit}^ The grades of all the avenues are very easy, 
most of them being scarcely perceptible. Nearly the whole ground 
will be laid oft' in landscape, and the reservoir adding to the beauties 
of the scenery, will form a very conspicuous feature. There is no 
stiff' outline or geometrical form to the boundaries of the reservoir, 
the water forming its own outline by the natural slopes of the 
hills. There is no point at which a view of the entire lake can be 
seen, some portions of its surface being lost in the meanderings of its 
course. 

The ground has been leased by the city, and whenever the City 
should wish to puixhase, it can do so, for the sum of $3,000 per 
acre, but until then it is to pay an annual rent on the above amount 
at the rate of six per cent, per annum. Work was commenced in 
May 1867, and up to this time $245,000 have been expended. 
The improvement is expected to cost $1,400,000.* 

ST. LOUIS. 

In St. Louis, the subject of public parks has occupied much 
attention for the past few years, the same diversity of opinion and 
interest existing as in our city. The city was the owner, in 1866, of 
2S7 acres of land, distributed in various parks, places, and squares 
throughout the city. In the same year the Mayor recommended the 

*Dr. Will. Cleiidenin, Health Officer, Cincinnati. 



Public Parks. 



29 



passage of an ordinance authoi-izing the City Cemetery to be declared 
a public park, and the purchase of the following additions, so as to 
increase the City Cemetery to 357/0 acres, Lafayette Park to 47toV 
acres, St. Louis Place to 35tVo acres, and Hyde Park to 20yYo 
acres ; also, the purchase of fifty acres outside of the city limits. 
This, I believe, was not done. The following are the names, 
locality, and area of the parks : — 



Carondelet Park 

Laclede Park 

Gravois Park 

Lafayette Park 

Washington Square.. 

Missouri Park 

Carr Square 

Jackson Place 

Clinton Place 

Marion Place 

St. Louis Place 

Hyde Park 

Exchange Square 

Tower Grove Park . . . 
Benton Park 



LOCALITY. 



N. Dacotah street, E. Michigan avenue 
N. Gasconade street, E. Iowa avenue. 
Potomac street and Kansas avenue. . . 
Park avenue and Mississippi avenue. . 

Market and 12th sti-eets 

St. Charles and 13th streets 

Carr and E. i6th streets , 

Jackson alley and nth street , 

Clinton alley and nth street , 

Marion alley and nth street 

Herbert and 17th streets 

Bremen avenue and 12th street 

Wan-en street and Wharf , 

Magnolia and Grand avenue 

Arsenal st. & McHose & English Cave 



3toV acres. 


3tVo " 


fi 2 5 2 u 


'^''1000 


6 


Q 3 46 (( 

■^Tooo 


StW^ " 


ItWct " 


-16 2 2 u 

■'Tooo 


HU-. " 


IStWo " 


i1t¥o% " 


15 18 ii 


•>7« 7 6 u 


1^50 41 



Mr. Henry Shaw several years ago offered to donate to the city of 
St. Louis 200 acres, on condition that a certain strip surrounding the 
tract be resei'ved by him and sold for residences, the proceeds to 
constitute a part of the endowment of his "Botanical Garden." 
On March 9, 1S67, an act was passed by the Legislatui^e of 
Missouri creating, and providing for the government of Tower- 
Grove Park ; and on July 3, 1S68, the City Councd passed an 
ordinance to raise the requisite funds, for carrying out the provisions 
of the act. Owing to the fact that provision is made in the act creat- 
ing the park for its improvement, Mr. Shaw donated 76 acres more 
than he originally intended. He is constituted a Commissioner 
during his life, and he also appoints the remaining four Commissioners. 
The grounds are partially improved, and with the arboretum, botanical 
garden, &c., constitute one of the most liberal gifts ever made by a 



30 Public Parks. 

private gentleman for the public benefit. I am informed that the 
necessary funds have been raised for its improvement, and that as 
soon as possible vs^ork w^ill be commenced. * 

CHICAGO. 

Coming now to Chicago wo. find her public grounds distributed as 
follows : in the North Division is Lincoln Park, containing about 50 
acres, 25 of which may be said to be improved, whereon the sum of 
$60,000 has been very judiciously expended during the last three 
years, making it a truly beautiful place. With the lake and the 
character of the ground, there is here aftbrded a fine opportunity for 
landscape gardening. Many trees have been set out, and two and a 
half miles of carriage drives, and about the same length of graded 
walks, have been constructed. Unfortunately the carriage drives are 
not wide enough. Sevei"al picturesque lakes are also found in it. 
Washington Park is also in the North Division, situated between 
North Dearborn and North Clark streets, and Washington and 
Lafayette places. It contains 2^^ acres, upon which a few trees 
have been planted, and improved by two conci^ete walks running 
through it, and is enclosed by a common fence. Lake Park, is a 
tract lying along the lake in front of Michigan avenue, extending 
from Randolph street to Park Place, and when filled will contain 
about 40 acres. Dearborn Park is between Washington and 
Randolph streets, fronting on Michigan avenue, containing lyVo 
acres, and is surrounded by an iron railing with a few stunted trees 
scattered here and there, together with an occasional evergreen. The 
attempts at improvement of this piece of ground have been singu- 
larly abortive, and in a sanitary point of view much more benefit 
can be derived by the sale of this property for business purjDoses, 
and the application of the proceeds to the purchase of grounds 
elsewhere, — as for instance in the 5th Ward between 26th and 
31st streets. The Court House Square contains 2yfn acres, but 
with the extension of the public buildings the area which will be 
left for decoration will be insignificant. Several unsuccessful 
attempts have been made to improve this square. Ellis Park has 
an area of about 3 acres, and is situated near the Douglas Monu- 
ment, and is covered by a few forest trees. Union Park on the 
West Side contains 17 acres whose improvements have cost the 
sum of $43,584.74. The attempt at landscape gardening in this 
park has been unfortunate, as the extent and character of the 

* Dr. P. v. Schenck, Health Officer, St. Louis. 



Public Parks. 31 

ground is such that it will not admit of anything of the kind. 
Jetlerson Pai^k containing '^^-^ acres, is situated between Monroe 
and Adams streets, on the north and south, and Rucker and Loomis 
streets east and "west, and is surrounded by a wooden fence, and 
has been laid out in walks, and a few trees have been planted in and 
around it. The same may be said of the Vernon Park, which 
contains four acres. Wicker Park, is a projected one in the extreme 
north-western part of the city. The whole area within the city, 
devoted to park purposes, amounts to 125,^0 acres, of which only 
one-third has been improved, and upon the improvements about 
$105,000 have been expended. * 

I have thus passed in review the history of parks and public 
grounds, from the earliest period to the present time. Apart from 
considerations of sanitary economy, of which I shall treat hereafter, 
it will be seen that public parks may be regarded as an unerring 
index of the advance of a people in civilization and refinement. 
They form an attractive feature in the surroundings of any great city, 
and constitute, even, the peculiar charm of many a country village. 
From the foregoing it will be seen how much has been accomplished 
elsewhere, and how little here. This is owing, no doubt, to the 
rapidity with which Chicago has sprung up. But it is singular, that 
with all her characteristic business energy and forethought, she has 
so far neglected to secure ample grounds for park purposes ; but 
the time has now arrived when it becomes necessary to act, and act 
in a manner that will not leave her behind, as compared with other 
cities, in those arts which embellish and render cities attractive as 
places of abode ; in other words, we want, not alone a place for 
business, but also one in which we can live. 

* In this connection, it may not be out of place to call attention to the suburha>t village at 
Riverside, located in a bend of the Aux Plaines River, nine miles south-west from the business center 
of Chicago, and six miles west of the city limits. It is a private enterprise, and is intended as a resi- 
dent park, comprising an area of i,6oo acres, which has been laid out, and is now being improved, 
under the direction of Olmsted and Vaux, formerly architects and landscape gardeners of the Central 
Park, New York, and now of the Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The greater portion of the ground is 
admirably adapted for this purpose, being about twenty feet above the river, making it easily susceptible 
of good drainage, while the banks of the river and the more elevated portions of the ground are covered 
with groves of thrifty trees, consisting of oaks, elms, hickories, walnuts, lindens, and ashes. Here are to 
be combined the comforts of the city, in the way of gas, water, drainage, with all the beauties of land- 
scape gardening ; and I have no doubt, judging from the report of the architects to the owners, and the 
work already accomplished, that it will be made one of the iinest suburban parks in the country, and 
one of the most pleasant and healthful places of residence in the neighborhood of this city. To facili- 
tate access, it is also intended to connect this park with the city by a broad and well improved avenue, 
lined with trees. If it were for nothing else, this enterprise cannot be too strongly commended, on 
account of the trees that are to be planted along this avenue, which, in the course of tmie, will exercise 
a vast influence in moderating the extremes of our climate, and go far to protect the city from the inju- 
rious effects of the south-west wind at certain seasons of the year. As the approaches to the city in 
that direction are an open waste, and exceedingly uninteresting, and, at times, positively dreary and 
difficult, owing to character of the roads, Riverside and the avenue will soon cause the improvement of 
the intervening space, and thus obviate this objection. 



32 Public Parks. 

HOW FAR MAN CAN MODIFY CLIMATE. 

Marsh, in his work on "Man and Nature," says: "The influ- 
ence of man in changing the cHmate and the physical condition of a 
country needs no argument to substantiate." Withdraw man, and 
you remove the disturber of all laws. People must be "awakened 
to the necessity of restoring the disturbed harmonies of nature, where 
well-balanced influences are so propitious to all her organic off- 
spring, of repaying to our great mother the debt which the prodigality 
and thriftlessness of former generations have imposed upon their 
successors — thus fulfilling the command of religion and of practical 
wisdom, to use this world as not abusing it." He further says : 
" I am satisfied that w^e can become the architects of our own abiding 
place, as it is well known how the mode of our physical, moral, and 
intellectual being is affected by the character of the home Providence 
has appointed, and we have fashioned for our material habitation." 

Such is undoubtedly the case, and it becomes our duty to restore, 
as far as possible, this harmony, which is destroyed by the accumu- 
lation of such a mass of human beings, as are now congregated in 
and around this city. The collection of many people in a small 
space, no matter for what purpose, is unnatural and artificial. It is 
therefore necessary, in order to prevent the ill effects of such accu- 
mulations, to resort to artificial means to equalize the disturbing 
agencies. Will we then intelligently use what knowledge we have, 
and avert the result, or fold our hands, and depend upon blind 
chance, bearing in mind, however, that 

" Death lives where power lives unused." 

In the discussion of the questions involved, in order to arrive at 
satisfactory results, it is necessary to examine into all its aspects and 
relations systematically ; and when conclusions are arrived at, their 
application must be made in like manner, in order to produce the 
desired result. 

"Science," says Whewell, "is that precise and comprehensive 
kind of knowledge which results from the application to facts, which 
are sufficiently numerous, of conceptions clear and distinct in them- 
selves, and so suited to the facts as to produce an exact and uniform 
accordance ; and the construction of science is a process which 
comprises methods of observation, methods of obtaining clear ideas, 
and methods of induction."* " Science," says Lord Bacon, evidently 
following the definition of Pliny, "is the interpretation of nature," 

* Bain on the Senses and the Intellect 



Public Parks. 33 

"a comparison," says Bain, "that transfixes the mind with the idea 
of observing, recording, and explaining the facts of the world." 

This definition I shall apply to sanitary science, in connection 
with public parks, and, as best I can, explain general laws and draw 
deductions from the facts within my reach, with regard to the climate, 
topography, and diseases of this locality. Although some of the 
facts collected during 1S66, and the first half of 1S67, are not as full 
nor as accurate as those collected since, still they are sufficiently so 
to indicate the general laws governihg and controlling them. 

VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 

In order to appreciate the important part that the vegetable 
kingdom performs in the economy of nature, and particularly its 
effects upon animal life, it will be necessary to call attention to the 
elementary composition of plants, the nature of the food by which 
they are nourished, the sources from which this food is derived, and 
the transformation it undergoes in their system. In the process of 
digestion or assimilation is found the nature of vegetation, as in this 
process alone mineral and unorganized matter is converted into the 
tissues of plants and other forms of organized matter, the vege- 
table kingdom occupying a position between the mineral and the 
animal kingdoms. In living bodies there is a state of internal 
activity and unceasing change — particles which have served their turn 
being continually thrown out of the system as new ones are brought 
in, thus constantly undergoing decomposition and recomposition. 
Plants are organized beings that live directly upon the mineral king- 
dom — and upon the surrounding earth and air, and, as a necessary 
result of assimilating their organic food, they decompose carbonic acid, 
and restore its oxygen to the atmosphere. Animals in respiration, 
continually recompose carbonic acid at the expense of the oxygen of 
the atmosphere and the carbon of plants. Plants absorb their food 
entireh' in a liquid or gaseous form, by imbibition, according to the 
law of endosmosis, through the walls of the cells that form the 
surface — as when liquids of unequal density are separated by a 
permeable membrane, the lighter liquid or the weaker solution will 
flow into the denser or stronger with a force proportioned to the 
difference in density ; but at the same time a smaller portion of the 
denser liquid will ffow out into the weaker, which process is called 
exosmosis. 



34 Public Parks. 

The fluid absorbed by the roots, is thus carried from cell to cell, 
rising principally in the wood, and is attracted to the leaves, or 
other parts of the plants exposed to sun and light, by the exhalation 
which takes place from them, and the consequent inspiration of the 
sap. Here the crude sap Is exposed to sun and light, and assimilated 
and converted into organizable matter. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 
and nitrogen, are indispensable to vegetation, and make up at least 
from 88 to 90 per cent, of every vegetable substance ; the proper 
vegetable structure, however, is only composed of carbon, hydrogen, 
and oxygen. 

Plants also receive nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which is 
always produced when any animal, and almost when any vegetable 
substance decays, and which, being very volatile, continually rises 
into the air from these and other sources. Ammonia is soluble and 
is greedily absorbed by aqueous vapor, and is brought to the ground 
by rain and snow. The carbon of plants is derived wholly from the 
carbonic acid of the atmosphere, audit makes up jaVo- of its bulk, 
from which it is directly absorbed by the leaves. It may then be said 
that the atmosphere contains all the essentials to plant growth, viz., 
water in a state of vapor, which is not only food itself as it supplies 
oxygen and hydrogen, but is likewise the vehicle of the others, 
carrying to the roots what it has gathered from the air, namely, the 
requisite supplies of nitrogen, either as such, or in the form of 
ammonia, and of carbon in the form of carbonic acid. 

In fact, all of the essential elements of plants or proper food 
may be absorbed by the leaves directly from the air, and no doubt 
most plants take in a great part of their food in this way as droop- 
ing foliage may be revived by sprinkling with water, or exposure to 
a damp atmosphere. 

Air plants live on the atmosphere, and a branch of the common 
" Live Forever" will grow when pinned to a dry and bare wall. 
All leafy plants derive their carbonic acid from the air, and many, 
as has already been stated, derive their whole food from the air 
or part of it. It is found, that when a current of carbonic acid 
is made to traverse a glass globe containing a leafy plant exposed to 
full sunshine, some carbonic acid disappears, and an equal bulk of 
oxygen gas supplies its place. Now since carbonic acid gas contains 
just its own bulk of oxygen, it is evident that what has thus been 
decomposed in the leaves has returned all its oxygen to the air. 



Public Parks. 35 

Although phuits may derive their food from the air, they receive 
it mainly through the roots. The aqueous vapor., condensed into 
rain or dev^, and bringing with it to the ground a portion of carbonic 
acid and of nitrogen or ammonia, &c., supplies the proper food of 
the plant to the rootlets, and imbibed by these it is conveyed through 
the stem and into the leaves where the superfluous water is restored to 
the atmosphere by exhalation, while the residue is converted into 
the proper nourishment and substance of the vegetable. 

The water exhaled may be again absorbed by the roots laden 
with a new supply of the other elements from the air, again exhaled 
and so on, as illustrated by cultivated plants in Ward's case, where 
plants are seen to flourish for a long time with a limited supply of 
water, every particle of which (excepting the small portion actually 
consumed by the plants,) must repeatedly pass through this circula- 
tion ; and here is exhibited the actual relations of water, &c., to 
vegetation on a large scale in nature, where the water is alternately 
and repeatedly raised by evaporation and recondensed t o such an 
extent that what actually falls in rain is estimated to be evaporated and 
rained down on an average ten or fifteen times a year. In this way 
the atmosphere is repeatedly purified by the rain, and those vapors 
washed out, which else by their accumulations, would prove injurious 
to man and animals, and are conveyed to the roots of plants which 
they are especially adapted to nourish. 

During intensely hot weather the effect of rain is apparent, and 
the common saying "We have had a refreshing shower," is appre- 
ciated by all. A shower of rain has been known frequently to stop 
epidemics, particularly of cholera. 

The lower order of plants, such as the Lichens, Mosses, Ferns, 
&c., which grow entirely at the expense of the air and are generally 
found in damp and shady places, gradually form a soil or vegetable 
mould during their life, which is increased by their decay, while the 
successive generations live more vigorously upon this inheritance, 
being supported partly by what they draw from the air and partly 
from the ancestral accumulations of vegetable mould. It is in this 
way that, what are called the useless plants create a soil which will in 
time support the higher plants of immediate importance to man and 
other mammalia, but which could never grow and perfect their 
fruits if left like their humble predecessors to derive an unaided 
subsistance directly from the inorganic mould. The harmony of 
nature is such that it cannot be disturbed. The greater part of 



36 Public Parks. 

Fungi live upon decaying organic matter, and have not the power 
of forming organizable products from inorganic material. 

We now come to that part of vegetable physiology in which we 
are most interested. Under the influence of light, takes place the 
chemical decomposition of one or more substances in the sap, 
liberating the oxygen at the ordinary temperature of the air, 
and transforming the mineral, inorganic food into organic matter — 
the organized substance of living plants and animals. The chief 
material given back to the air in this process is oxygen gas, that 
element of our atmosphere which renders it fit for the breathing and 
life of animals. That the foliage of plants in sunshine is continually 
yielding oxygen to the surrounding air has been known since the 
days of Ingenloup and Priestly. By exposing a few freshly- 
gathered leaves to the sunshine, in a glass vessel filled with water, 
air-bubbles will presently arise but cease to appear when placed in 
the dark. 

There is no doubt but that all leafy plants obtain part of their car- 
bonic acid from the air, for when a current of carbonic acid gas is 
made slowly to traverse a glass globe containing a leafy plant exposed 
to full sunshine, some carbonic acid disappears, and an equal bulk of 
oxygen gas supplies its place. Carbonic acid gas contains just its 
own bulk of oxygen. It is evident that what has thus been decom- 
posed in the leaves, has returned all its oxygen to the air. Plants, 
therefore, take carbonic acid, dii^ectly or indirectly ; they retain its 
carbon, and give back its oxj'gen. 

Generally speaking, the plants may be said to be in a passive or 
or state of rest at night, sometimes even throwing out carbonic acid 
and consuming oxygen, and this is undoubtedly the reason why more 
deaths occur at night, and the fatality incident to epidemics is 
greatest. 

In fact vegetation is the only operation in nature which gives to 
the air free oxygen which is indispensable to animal life, as all 
animals consume oxygen at every moment of their life, giving to the 
air carbonic acid in its room, and when dead their bodies consume a 
further portion in decomposition, such being the case also with 
vegetables. While animals consume the oxygen of the air, and give 
back carbonic acid which is injurious to their life, this carbonic acid 
is the principle element of the food of vegetables, is consumed and 
decomposed by them, and its oxygen returned for the use of animals. 
Hence the perfect adaptation of the two great kingdoms of living 



Public Parks. 3^ 

beings to each other ; each removing from the atmosphere which 
would be noxious to the otlier — each yielding to the atmosphere 
what is essential to the continued existence of the other.* Little does 
man think how dependent he is upon vegetation, for while the 
vegetable kingdom is entirely independent, and might have existed 
alone, yet it is absolutely essential to the life of man.f 

AQUATIC VEGETATION. 

The remarks thus far made, generally apply to the vegetable 
kingdom, and have mainly had reference to the higher orders of 
plants. I now propose to advert to the lower orders which occur in 
water, both fresh and salt, and play the same part in the economy of 
nature as those found on land. They have been found in countless 
myriads in the depths of the ocean, far down as the plummet has yet 
sounded, and in fact, may be said to be found in every climate under 
one phase or another. J The sea teems with animal life, and without 



* Gray's Stmctural Botany. 

t It has been found by experiment that plants will thrive in air containing more carbonic acid than 
that usually found in the atmosphere when exposed to a strong sun-light, or in climates where the solar 
light is not much obscured by clouds. The floating islands which are constantly being found in the lake 
of Solfatara, in Italy, according to Sir Humphrey Davy, exhibit a striking example of cryptogamic 
vegetation in an atmosphere impregnated with carbonic acid. These islands consist chiefly of confervje 
and other simple cellular plants, which are copiously supplied with nutriment by carbonic acid that is 
constantly escaping from the bottom of the lake, with a violence that gives to the water an appearance of 
ebullition. Dr. Schleiden, /fV/^wrt«'.f Archives, 1838, mentions that the vegetation around the 
springs in the valley of Gottingen, which abound in carbonic acid, is very rich and luxuriant ; appearing 
several weeks earlier in spring, and continuing much later in autumn, than at other spots in the same 
district. Humboldt says that "exhalations of carbonic acid (mofettes) are, even in our days, to be 
considered as the most important gaseous emanations, with respect to their number and the amount of 
their effusion. We see in Germany, in the deep valleys of Eifel, in the neighborhood of Lake Laach, in 
the crater-like valley of the Wehr of Western Bohemia, exhalations of carbonic acid gas manifest 
themselves as the last efforts of volcanic activity, in or near the foci of an earlier world. In these earlier 
periods, when a higher terrestrial temperature existed, and when a great number of fissures remained 
uiifiUed, the processes we have described acted more powerfully, and carbonic acid and hot steam were 
mixed in larger quantities in the atmosphere, from whence it follows, as Adolph Brongniart has 
ingeniously shown, (in the Annales des Sciences NaUirelles,) that the primitive vegetable world must 
have exhibited, almost everywhere, and independently of geographical position, ifhe most luxurious 
abundance and the fullest development of organism. In these constantly warm and damp atmospheric 
strata, saturated with carbonic acid, vegetation must have attained a degree of vital activity, and derived 
the superabundance of nutrition necessary to furnish material for the formation of the beds of lignite, 
(coal,) constituting the inexhaustible means on which are based the physcial power and prosperity of 
nations." * * * 

" That portion of the carbon which was not taken up by the alkaline earths, but remained mixed with 
the atmosphere as carbonic acid, was gradually consumed by the vegetation of the earlier stages of the 
world, so that the atmosphere, after being purified by the processes of vegetable life, only retained the 
small quantity which it now possesses, and which is not injurious to the present organization of animal 
life-" — Cosmos. Daubney, in his work on "Volcanoes," says, speaking of the Lake of Laach, that 
"the thickness of the vegetation on the sides of its crater-like basin, renders it difficult to discover the 
nature of the subjacent rock." The same writer, in his "Report to the British Association," for 1849, 
of expermrents made by him, confirms, to a great extent, the ingenious hypothesis of M. Brongniart. 

X Although the surface of the ocean is less rich in living forms than that of continents, it is not 
improbable that on a farther investigation of its depths, its interior may be found to possess a greater 
richness of organic life than any other portion of our planet. Charles Darwin, in the agreeable nan-ative 
of his extensive voyages, justly remarks that our forests do not conceal so many animals as the low, 
woody regions of the ocean, where the sea-weed rooted to the bottom of the shoals, and the several 
branches of foci loosened by the force of the waves and currents, and swimming free, unfold their 
delicate foliage, upborne by air cells. — Cosdios. 



38 Public Parks. 

these, vegetable forms they could not live.* They keep the water 
pure, and yield oxygen to the atmosphere. In every pool and stag- 
nant ditch, under the influence of heat, algae are quickly produced, 
forming the green scum over them, w^hich instead of being injurious, 
are beneficial, and emit oxygen in the shape of beads that can be 
seen on any sunny day. It is only after the pool is dried, and 
these conferviE are w^afted away by the wind, that places of this 
character become injurious. The amount of benefit derived from 
these apparently insignificant plants, is great when we take into 
account the many extensive surfaces of water dispersed over the 
world, which are thus kept pure, and made subservient to a healthy 
state of the atmosphere. It is not only vast, but part of the harmo- 
nious whole, and worthy of Him who has appointed even to the 
meanest of His creatures, something to do for the good of His 
creation ;f and well may it be said — 

"Call us not weeds, we are the flowers of the sea." 
INFLUENCE OF VEGETATION, PARTICULARLY TREES, UPON HEALTH. 

Having thus shown the actions and reactions which take place 
between animal and vegetable life, and how dependent the former is 
upon the latter, we propose to call attention to a series of facts, 
gathered from different sources, which illustrate in a marked degree, 
the application of these principles, clearly proving that the infection 
and diffusion of malaria or noxious emanations are arrested by trees, 
"whose structure and canopy of foliage act in a three-fold capacity ; 
— first as a barrier to break the flow, second as an absorbent of those 
emanations, and third as eliminators of oxygen. 

Lancisi cites a number of facts sho\ving the protection afforded 
by belts of trees against the effects of malaria, and the danger 
resulting from their removal. He calls attention to the fact that, in 
former days, there existed on the south side of Rome a thick forest 
which extended from Frascati and Albano to the Tiber, and protected 
the southern portion of the city and the neighboring district from 
the baneful influence of the effluvia of the Pontine Marshes. This 



* " The parlor aquarium has taught even those to whom It is but an amusing toy, that the balance 
of animal and vegetable life must be preserved, and that excess of either is fatal to the other, in the 
artificial tank as well as in natural water. A few years ago, the water of the Cochituate Aqueduct, at 
Boston, became so offensive in smell and taste, as to be quite unfit for use. Scientific investigation found 
the cause in the scrupulous care with which aquatic vegetation had been excluded from the reservoir, 
and the consequent death and decay of the animalcule which could not be shut out nor live in the water 
without the the vegetable element." — Jllan and Nature: Marsh. 

i Coniributioiis to the History 0/ Marine A /g-a; o/ North America: Harvey. 



Public Parks. 39 

rampart has since been removed, and the country has become 
proverbial for its unhealthiness.* 

Lancisi did not for a moment doubt the utility of these belts, and 
expresses the opinion that the consecration by the Ancients of woods 
and groves had no other motive than guarding, throvigh their means, 
against the diffusion of the febriferous poison. Among the Romans, 
the advantage of such barriers had long been recognized. Trees 
w^ere planted in rows and masses to guard against the diffusion of 
malai-ia. The practice was enforced by law, and recorded in the 
Roman tablets. This law, which was reported by Cicero, — " Lucos 
in agris habinto," — evidently had reference much more to the advan- 
tage in question than for the purposes for which trees are usually 
planted. In order to insure their safety, such collections of trees 
were placed under the protection of some divinity, or under the 
responsibility of the Roman Consuls. 

Bapt. Donus, in his work "On the means insuring Salubrity to 
the Soil of the Roman States," recommends the planting of pine and 
other trees between Rome and the Pontine Marshes, to intercept the 
miasmata wafted from there by the south-west winds. At Velletri, 
as also at Campo-Salino, the destruction of belts of woods was 
followed by the prevalence of fever.f 

Dr. Lewis, in his Medical History of Alabama, says, "Mr. P. E. 
had negro-quarters situated on the first prairie elevation above the 
low lands of a small creek, the fourth of a mile from the houses. 
The belt of low ground frequently overflowed, causing water to 
remain in holes over its entire breadth, in the subsidence of the 
stream ; but it was well shaded by a dense foliage, the plantation 
lying on the prairie in the rear of the cabins. In the winter of 1842 
and 1843 the trees between the houses and creek were cleared away, 
and up to that time, some eight or ten years, the negroes living in 
this quarter had enjoyed uninterrupted health — a case of fever scarcely 
occurring. During the summer of 1843, the first after the forest had 
been cleared away, fever prevailed among the negroes with great 
violence, continuing until frost. The negro-quarters were afterwards 
removed to the opposite side of the creek, about the same distance 
from it, but with an intervening growth of timber, and no fever has 
occurred on the place since." % 



* La Roche, on Pnetanoitia and Malaria. 

t De Restituenda Salubritate Agri Romani, 1667. 

X New Orleans Journal. 



40 Public Parks. 

"Whole families," says Mr. Bartlett, "have resided near the 
Pontine Marshes, and, by the intenvention of shrubs and trees, have 
escaped for years the noxious effects of the mephitic vapors which 
these putrid waters engender."* Dr. Hosack states that a family 
In New Jersey was attacked with fever in consequence of cutting 
down a wood that separated them from a morass in the neighborhood. 
Before the operation they had been healthy. f "Army physicians, 
therefore, recommend," says Dr. Wilson Philip, "having a wood, if 
possible, between marshy grounds and an encampment." | Rigault 
de Lisle calls attention to the fact that, upon Mount Argental, above 
the village of St. Stephano, there is a convent which has lost all the 
reputation for salubrity which it once enjoyed, since the lofty trees, 
by which it was surrounded, have been cut down. "I have been 
informed," he adds, "by persons worthy of credit, that in conse- 
quence of the felling of the wood before Asterna, near the Pontine 
Marshes, Veletri was visited for three successive years by diseases 
which made much greater havoc than usual throughout the whole 
country, and penetrated to many places which they had not pre- 
viously been accustomed to reach. Rigault de Lisle cites other 
cases, and refers to Volney, who states that Beyroot, formerly very 
vmhealthy, has ceased to be so since the Emir Fakr-el-din planted a 
wood of fir-trees, which still exist, a league below the town. 

By Pliny and others, among the Ancients, it was supposed that 
trees absorb the exhalations extricated from insalubrious places, and 
that the beneficial effects obtained from woods are to be accounted 
for in this way much more than the obstacles they offer to the diffu- 
sion of these exhalations. This opinion has, to a certain extent, 
received the sanction of Thouvenelle, Copland, and other modern 
writers ; and it is is undoubtedly correct, as the results of certain 
experiments made long ago, and repeated more recently, prove. 
Dr. Lewis, of Mobile, says, "It is the received opinion that living 
vegetation protects the human system from the deleterious effects 
of malaria ; and, reasoning by analogy, it would appear that experi- 
ments made by scientific men have satisfactorily explained the mutual 
dependence of the animal kingdoms on each other for support. It 
has been ascertained that if air, rendered pernicious by respiration, 
be confined in a bottle, into which some green plant has been intro- 

* Thompson's ^««rt/j. 
t Practice of Medicine. 
X Treatise on Feb. Dis. 



Public Parks. 41 

duced, and exposed to the action of the sun, the carbonic acid will 
be absorbed, and the air restored to its original condition. The 
putrefaction of animal matter, and the decomposition of vegetable 
substances, would cause a sufficiency of carbonic acid vapor, when 
united with atmospheric air, to destroy every living being, were 
it not for this wise provision of nature. This gas, which is 
poisonous to the human as well as animal species, is a source of 
nutriment to every variety of plants ; and thus, it wovdd appear, 
exercises a benign influence in protecting man from the deleterious 
eftects of poisonous vapors. And if the effect is obtained, so far as 
regards one species of poisonous vapor, it may be equally so in 
reference to that giving rise to fever." * 

Dr. Cartwright ascribes to the Jussicea gi'undijlora., a plant 
found in great abundance in marshy or swampy places in the 
Southern States, particularly in certain regions of Louisiana, which 
present the usual characteristic malarial surfaces, the cause of 
their exemption from fever, f Aquatic plants and those found in 
swampy or marshy soils while growing, exhale a large quantity of 
oxygen ; but when they have their growth, this action ceases and 
those regions become unhealthy. It was at one time supposed that 
no ozone could be found in swamps ; but I have discovered its 
presence in June, near the surface of the water of a lake in which 
the Chara were growing abundantly, but could not detect it in the 
same place in September. It has also been ascertained that fish are 
healthier and thrive better in water where aquatic plants are found 
than where they are absent. 

A distinguished natural philosopher, Changeux, inferred from 
the results of his experiments, that the action of trees in producing 
the eftects under consideration, is two-fold. "Plants," he saj's, 
"whether odoriferous or inodorous, give issue to emanations which, 
when mixed with poisonous vapors exhaling from marshy or damp 
soils, neutralize their pernicious influence. But the former exercise 
a greater eftect through means of the neutralizing process than by 
the power of absorption just mentioned, tlieir emanations mixing 
with the air we breathe and correcting its deleterious properties by 
virtue of the particular qualities with which they are endowed. 
The second class — the inodoriferous — on the other hand, act more 
evidently through means of their power of absorption than of the 

* jMedical History of A labavia. 
t Western Medical yournal. 



42 Public Parks. 

neutralizing property of their emanation, and remove from the air 
the vapors by which it is contaminated."* 

M. Carriere, in a work on the climate of Italy, adopts the views 
of Chevreul and Fontana, in relation to the febrific poison through 
means of the action of organic matter on the sulphates contained in 
the earth, or in water with the aid of the oxygen derived from the 
former. The leaves of plants and of trees, as well as the green 
substances that cover the soil, are all inexhaustible sources of 
oxygen, which is so important to sustain life and preserve health. 
"Hence," he says, "to cover the fields, the edges of marshes and 
the whole extent of the soil with an abundant vegetation, is equal to 
placing on the surface of unhealthy regions a reparative apparatus 
of tlie greatest power. Trees, therefore, must have a large share 
in the amelioration of the country, in consequence of the quantity 
of leaves they furnish." f 

Others have supposed, before vegetable physiology was as well 
understood as at this time, that malaria was collected by plants, 
particularly those of a dense and entangling foliage, and was 
disengaged in cutting them down or rooting them up, thus exciting 
fevers and disease. Dr. Ferguson, calling attention to the attraction 
of marsh jDoison for, or rather its adherence to, lofty umbrageous trees, 
says that "this is so much the case that it can with difficulty be 
separated from them ; and that in the territory of Guiana particu- 
larly, where these trees abound, it is wonderful to see how near to 
leeward of the most pestiferous marshes the settlers, provided they 
have this security, will venture — and that with comparative impu- 
nity — to place their habitations. The town of New Amsterdam, 
Berbice, situated within musket shot to leeward of a swamp 
extremely offensive at a certain stage of dryness, owes evidently 
its exemption from fever to this cause." " A still better instance of 
the same, and with the same results, may be seen at Paramaribo, 
the capital of Surinam, when the trade-wind, that regularly venti- 
lates the town and renders it habitable, blows over a swamp within 
a mile of the town, which, fortunately for the inhabitants, is covered 
with the same description of trees." % 

"It has been observed," says Becqueral, "that humid air, 
charged with miasmata, is deprived of them in passing through 

* Journal de Physique. 
t Le Climai de V Italic. 
X Marsh Poison. 



Public Parks. 



43 



the forest. Rigaud de Lisle observed localities in Italy where the 
interposition of a screen of trees preserved everything beyond it, 
while the unprotected grounds were subject to fevers."* The 
belief that rows of trees atibrd an important protection against 
malarious influences is very general among Italians best qualified by 
intelligence and professional experience, to judge upon the subject. 
The commissioners appointed to report on the measures to be 
adopted for the improvement of the Tuscan Maremme advised the 
planting of three or four rows of poplars, in such directions as to 
obstruct the currents of air from malarious localities, and thus intercept 
a great proportion of the pernicious exhalations." f Lieutenant 
Maury believed that a few rows of sun-flowers, planted between the 
Washington Observatory and the marshy banks of the Potomac, had 
saved the inmates of that establishment from the intermittent fever, 
to which they had been formerly liable. These experiments have 
been repeated in Italy. Large plantations of sun-flowers have been 
made upon the alluvial deposits of the Oglio, above its entrance 
into the lake of Iseo, near Pisogne, and it is said with beneficial 
effects. X 

"•In Southern Burmah the inhabitants place their houses under 
trees with the best effect, and it was a rule with the Romans to 
encamp their men under trees in all hot countries." § 

Many more instances of a like character might be adduced that 
have occurred in this country, particularly in the West. In the 
settlement of all new countries much sickness follows, owing to the 
destruction of the trees and the upturning of the vegetable mould 
which has for ages been collecting and lying dormant, and thus 
exposed by the influence of heat and light to decomposition. The 
" balance of nature, " as Dumas significantly expresses it, " is 
destroyed," and as a necessary consequence the harmony is disturbed, 
and sickness and death are the result to the disturbers. All the 
operations of nature tend to produce unity and harmony in their 
results ; and whenever man interferes with that order, it is at the 
expense of his health and well-being. 

While preparing an article on cholera, as it appeared at Burling- 
ton, Iowa, in 1850, I was forcibly struck with what I could not but 
regard as the preventive influence of trees. In the houses on the 

* Becqueral, Des Cliinats. 

t Salvagnoli, Rapporto sul Bom'Jicaineiito delle Mareiiune Toscane. 

X II Politecnfco, Milatio, 1863. 

§ Parkes' Practical Hygiene. 



44 Public Parks. 

west side of Main Street, north of Court, more deaths took place 
than in any other portion of the city ; and that more occurred in 
proportion to the number of inmates in every other house, than in 
the one in front of which were trees ; and what is still more con- 
vincing, the natural predisposition to cholera existed to a greater 
extent among the inmates of this house, than in any other. Another 
and more striking instance occurred in the two houses nearest the 
" Old Saw Mill." The house adjoining the mill was surrounded by 
trees and not one of the occupants suflered from cholera ; while, in 
the other house, which was exposed and stood upon the bank of the 
Mississippi, three deaths took place ; and what is more to the point is, 
that the family which escaped, were new-comers and suffering from 
nostalgia and the effects of a change of climate, which act as a 
predisposing and exciting cause of the disease ; while those who 
lived in the other hovise, were old residents, and had been thoroughly 
acclimated. Dr. Buckler notices similar facts in his account of the 
cholera as it appeared in the Baltimore Aims-House, in 1S49. 

In the summer of 1852, the trees on the high bluff' in the northern 
part of Burlington, were cut down. It was not until the months of 
August, September, and October, of the following year, that any 
apparent effect of this destruction of the trees took place, when nearly 
all who lived in that portion of the city suffered with fevers, and 
several of them died. 

During the late war of the Rebellion, much of the sickness of the 
army of the Potomac in the summer, autumn, and winter of i86i, 
while encamped near Washington, was the result of the destruction of 
the trees for purposes of defence, as a military necessity, and for the 
use of the troops. The same was also noticed in Louisiana, where 
troops had been encamped for some time, and many trees were cut 
down. This was strikingly illustrated at Port Hudson, where, for 
purposes of defence, the rebels cut down nearly all the timber 
adjoining the outer fortification. It became necessary, in several 
places, to cut down more by our troops, and in a very short time 
the effect was quite marked in the increase of sickness, exclusive of 
casualties, in the regiments camped upon or near this ground. 

TREES MODIFY CLIMATE. 

We next propose to consider how far trees modify climate. Their 
shafts may be regarded as so many pipes for conveying heat from 
the earth to the air in winter, and from the air to the earth in the 



Public Parks. 45 

summer ; and this effect in modifying the range of temperatvire, as 
indicated by repeated experiments, is far from being insignificant. 
In summer, plants and trees, in addition to their conducting powers, 
render the atmosphere cooler by the great quantity of water that is 
exhaled from the leaves during foliation. Hales found that a sun- 
flower three and one-half feet high, with a surface of 5.616 square 
inches, exposed to the air, perspired at the rate of twenty to thirty 
ounces avoirdupois every twelve hours, or seventeen times more than 
a man.* A vine with twelve square feet of foliage exhales at the rate 
of five or six ounces a day ; and a seedling apple-tree, with eleven 
square feet of foliage, lost nine ounces a day. 

An experiment, performed by Bishop Watson, will assist in 
giving an idea of the extraordinar}^ amount of change effected by 
this function in plants. He placed an inverted glass vessel, of the 
capacity of twenty cubic inches, on grass which had been cut during 
a very intense heat of the sun, and after many weeks had passed 
without rain ; in two minutes it was filled with vapor which 
trickled down its sides. He collected these drops on a piece of 
muslin, which he carefully weighed ; and repeating the experiment 
for several days, between twelve and three o'clock, he estimated as 
the results of his inquiries, that an acre of grass transpires in 
twenty-four hours, not less than 6,400 quarts of water. This is 
probably an exaggerated statement, as the amount transpired during 
the period of the day in which the experiment was tried, is far 
greater than any other, f 

When we consider the vast perspiring surface presented by 
a large tree in full leaf, it is evident that the watery vapor it 
exhales is immense. " The Washington Elm," at Cambridge, a tree 
of no extraordinary size, was some years ago estimated to produce 
a crop of seven millions of leaves, exposing a surface of 300,000 
square feet, or about five acres of foliage. | 

The refreshing coolness, then, of a grove on a hot summer day is 
not to be wondered at ; and how often have we, while enjoying it, 
inquired what was the cause, simply supposing it was the result of 
shade. This exhalation is dependent on the capacity of the air for 
moisture, at the time, and the presence of the sun, while frequently it 
is scarcely perceptible at night. 

* Vegetable Statics. 

t Carpenter's Comparative Physiology. 

X Gray, — "How Plants Grow.^' 



46 Public Parks. 

In like manner, trees act as conductors of heat from the earth in 
winter, because the surrounding atmosj^here is cooler than the earth 
In which they grow. It is true that the conducting power of wood 
is slow, which is much less transversely to the direction of its fibre, 
than with it,* which would prevent the interior of a large trunk from 
being rapidly affected by the change in the heat of the external air ; 
and accordingly, it is found that the larger the trunk in which the 
observation is made, the greater the difference, f Trees possess a 
specific temperature of their own, independent of their conducting 
power, — an organic activity for generating heat, like that with which 
the warm-blooded animals are gifted, though by a different process, 
which has undoubtedly some influence in estimating the action 
of the forest upon atmospheric temperature. The range of trees, 
apart from moisture, is restricted by temperature, and they have the 
power of withstanding the ordinary changes which take place during 
the year ; but there are cycles of cold when, in certain species, the 
internal heat is overcome, and, as a necessary consequence, the life 
of the tree is destroyed. This is also shown in the protection that is 
necessary to young trees that are cultivated, to prevent their being 
destroyed by the ordinary winter temperature, owing to their vitality 
being insuflicient to resist the depressing effect of cold ; and such is 
also the case with young forest trees, as they will not grow unless 
protected by other and larger trees. It will therefore be seen that 
the same law obtains in the vegetable as in the animal kingdom. 

After the leaves fall in the autumn, the rootlets continue to collect 
sap, and there is no doubt that some motion of the sap takes place 
even in winter, although the tree may be said to be asleep, as there 
is in reality only a diminution in the activity of its vital processes, 
which is a characteristic of all living beings, some heat must be 
evolved, which is greatly increased when the sap begins to flow 
actively and the terminal buds begin to swell. \ It will, therefore, be 
seen that trees are the source of heat, in addition to the fact that they 
act mechanically in checking the force and movement of the winds, 
and thus cause the atmosphere surrounding them to be milder and 
less subject to sudden changes of temperature.' It is the uninter- 
rupted sweep of the winds, rather than the intensity of the cold, 
which abstracts from the vital energy of the system. The trapper 

* Dr. Tyndall. Phil. Transact., 1853. 
t X Carpenter's Comparative Physiology. 



Public Parks. 47 

in the Hudson's Bay region, amid the stilhiess of the forest, day after 
day, pursues his accustomed round with the thermometer many 
degrees below zero, with little or no inconvenience ; and so, too, 
with the lumberman in the pinei'ies of Maine and Wisconsin. The 
human system is constantly giving out a volume of heat, which is 
abstracted more readily by the movement of the air than by mere 
radiation into space. This deprivation of carbonaceous matter, and 
the chilling and exhausting effect incident thereto, is but too well 
known and appreciated by the prairie traveler in winter. The same 
effect is apparent in operating a locomotive during very cold or 
windy weather, as it is found much easier to keep up steam while the 
engine is passing through woods than over the wind-swept ground, 
although the thermometer may indicate the same temperature. As 
soon as the train emerges from the shelter of the trees, the steam- 
gauge falls, and a more liberal supply of fuel is necessary to bring 
it up again.* 

" Observation shows," says Meguscher, " that the wood of a 
living tree maintains a temperature of from 54° to 56° Fah., when 
the temperature stands from 37° to 47° Fah. above zero, and that 
the internal warmth does not rise and fall in proportion to that of the 
atmosphere. So long as the latter is below 67^ Fah., that of the 
tree is always highest, but if the temperature of the air rises to 67° 
Fah., that of the vegetable growth is the lowest. Since, then, trees 
maintain at all seasons a constant mean temperature of 54*^ Fah., it 
is easy to see why the air in contact with the forest must be warmer 
in winter, and cooler in summer, than in situations where it is 
deprived of that influence." f 

While engaged in investigating the nature of ozone, during the 
winters of 1S51 and 1S53, at Burlington, Iowa, I found that there 
was a difference of temperature between the western or Iowa bank 
of the Mississippi, (the wind was from the west, and the river frozen 
at the time,) and the eastern or Illinois side, of 3% and penetrating 
the heavy forest that covered the bottom at that time, I found the 
temperature rising, until I reached about midway between the river 
and the prairie, where I found the temperature 16' higher, and it 
began to lower again upon approaching the edge of the prairie, 
although the wind was from the west, and, arrived at the prairie, I 
found the thermometer 4° lower than in the middle of the timber. 



* In applying to the most prominent Railroad Superintendents of this city, their statement is 
unanimous, that during winter a far greater amount of fuel is consumed by a locomotive running through 
a prairie region than through one that is densely wooded. 

t Memoria sui Boschi di Lotnbardina. 



48 Public Parks. 

During the last six weeks, I have had three daily observations 
made of the temperature at tlie western, the middle, and the eastern 
portions of Wright's Grove, in the northern part of Chicago. I find 
as a general rule that the difference between the three points depends 
upon the direction of the wind, and the sudden changes of temperature ; 
the middle point being less aflected, and ranging from one to seven 
degrees higher than either of the others. Some days there was no 
change perceptible in the three points, depending upon tempei-ature 
and the activity of the wind. The period over which the obsei-va- 
tions extend has been remarkably mild, and one in which no sudden 
or great changes have taken place. 

In comparing these observations with others made near the Ar- 
tesian Well in the western part of the City, I find that only upon one 
occasion in a month, was the temperature as low as at the Well, while 
it ranged from one to nine degrees higher. In the month of Decem- 
ber the thermometer, at 119 Randolph St.,* indicated 10° below zero ; 
at the Artesian Well, 17 ;t at the Observatory, 14 ;| and at Wright's 
Grove, 12 ; at the same time, the wind being from the south-west. 

Trees and plants exercise a marked influence on the humidity of 
the air, causing its moisture to be more equally distributed. They 
also act as excitors or conductors of electricity, § and it is supposed 
in countries where hail storms are frequent and destructive, that they 
occur in proportion as the forests have been cleared. || "Electrical 
action being diminished," says Meguscher, " and the rapid congela- 
tion of vapors by the abstraction of heat being impeded by the 
influence of the woods, it is rare that hail or water-spouts are produced 
within the precincts of a large forest when it is assailed by the 
tempest." ^ May not the tornadoes which were so common throughovit 
the North-west several yeai^s ago, be owing to our treeless prairies ? 

Trees may be' regarded as climatological land-marks, ** the 
destruction of which causes changes that may be restored by planting 
them. It is a well established fact that the climate of the older States 



* J. G. Langguth. 

+ Wm. Giles. 

% Prof. Safford. 

§ Pouillet, " Annales de Chimie," 

II Le A Ipi che ciiigoiio V Italia. 

H IMcjnoria sui Boscki, etc. 

** It has been a reproach to the aristocracy of England, that in a country where the agricultural 
capacity of the soil is so limited, and where population presses so closely on the heels of production, 
that vast tracts of land suitable for agriculture, should be appropriated to forests and the chase ; but 
those who make this charge, are little aware of the important part which these forests play in the 
climatology and health of the British Isles. They do not appreciate that forests make the atmosphere 
purer, and render the climate more equable, thus protecting them from sudden changes, and diminishing 
the amount of fuel and clothing necessary to their comfort. 



Public Parks. 49 

has undergone a marked change in consequence of the destruction 
of the forests ;* viz., in the greater extremes of heat and cold, and in 
the perennial flow of the springs. This is manifest in its influence 
on man, in the altered character of the diseases, and also by the fact, 
that many manufacturing establishments which, a quarter of a century 
ago, had a water-power ample at all seasons to drive their machinery, 
are now compelled to resort, during the summer months, to the 
auxiliary aid of the steam-engine. 

Trees are the highest type of vegetable life, and in many 
respects the greatest of living forms. What more imposing than one 
of the these monarchs of the forest, like the Sequoia of the Nevada 
Slope, towering up into the upper air for 400 feet, and with a shaft 30 
feet or more in diameter at the base ! And then too, their antiquity. 
How many generations of men have disappeared, since first the germ 
of such a tree burst its seed-vessel ! Kit. North, than whom no one had 
a keener eye to the grandeur of the external world, thus speaks of 
these vegetable forms : 

'' Trees are indeed the glory, the beauty and delight of nature. 
The man who loves not trees — to look at them, to lie under them — 
to climb up them (once more a school boy) — would make no bones 
of murdering Mrs. Jefls. In what one imaginable attribute, that it 
ought to possess, is a tree, pray, deficient .•" Light, shade, shelter, 
coolness, freshness, music, all the colors of the rain-bow, dew and 
dreams dropping through their umbrageous twilight, at eve or morn, 
dropping direct — soft, sweet, soothing and restorative from heaven. 
Without trees, how in the name of wonder could we have had houses, 
ships, bridges, easy chairs or coffins, or almost any single one of the 
necessaries of life. Without trees, one man might have been born 
with a silver spoon in his mouth, but not another with a wooden 
ladle. 

" Tree, by itself, tree, " such tents the patriarchs loved.' Ipse 
nemus ' the brotherhood of trees ' — the Grove, the Coppice, the 
Wood, the Forest — dearly and after a different fashion, do Ave love 
you all ! And love you all we shall, vv^hile our dim eyes can catch 
the glimmer, our dull ear the murmur of the leaves, or our imagination 
hear at midnight the far-oft' swing of old branches groaning in the 
tempest. Oh ! is it not merry, also sylvan England t And, has not 
Scotland, too, her old pine forests, blackening up her highland 

* It has been observed in Sweden, that the spring, in many districts where the forests have been 
cleared off, now comes on a fortnight later than in the last century. — Asbjorsen, Om Skovene i Neye. 



5o Public Parks. 

mountains.' Are not many of our rivered valleys not unadorned 
with woods — her braes beautiful with their birkin shaws ? And does 
not stately ash, or sycamore, tower above the kirk-spire, in many a 
quiet glen, overshadowing the humble house of God, the dial stone, 
aged and green, and all the deep sunk, sinking, or upright array of 
grave-stones, beneath which* 

'The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.' " 



LOCAL CONDITIONS. 

We now come to consider the local conditions by which we are 
surrounded, both terrestial and atmospheric, in connection with their 
influence upon man, paiticularly in causing disease. In these are 
included the topography, nature of soil, temperature, winds, rains, 
and humidity of the atmosphere, all being more or less intimately 
connected, as there is no doubt that the surface controls the 
atmosphere, as much as the atmosphere controls the surface. 

Chicago is situated in latitude 41° 52', longitude 78° 35 , and is 
591 feet above the level of the sea. The surface is nearly a flat level 
and treeless plain, on the south-western shore of Lake Michigan. 
The highest point above the level of the Lake for fifteen miles north, 
is 38 feet,t and south-east for the same distance, 33 feet,j near the 
Chicago University ; from thence there is a gradual descent to the 
Calumet, when the ground gradually rises. Directly south of the city 
the surface is almost level, as the highest point in sixteen miles is 
only 33 feet.§ The topography south-west is still more I'emarkable, 
as for twenty miles, the highest point above the level of the lake is 
at Summit, only 10 feet, where the w^aters of the St. Lawrence run 
north-east. From the Summit there is a gradual descent, until the 
ground is lower than the surface of the lake. At twenty miles 
it is only i foot above the lake. || Three miles directly west, 
the surface is 17 feet; five miles, 30 feet; seven miles, 27 
feet ; at Austin, where no doubt was once the shore of the lake, 
and continuing ih miles farther at Harlem, we find an elevation 

* "Nodes AiiihrosianieJ''' 

t Milwaukee R. K. 

X City Engineer. 

§ Rock Island R. R. 

II Alton & St. Louis R. R. 



Public Parks. 51 

of 48 feet, the highest point in any direction within ten miles 
of Chicago. Continuing to the Des Phiines there is a descent, 
the bottom of the river being 26 feet ; then there is a marked 
increase in the ascent, so that at fifteen miles the surface is I03, and 
at twenty miles 125 feet above the level of the lake.* North-west of 
the city, at four miles, we only find an elevation of 10 feet ; at seven 
miles of 27 feet, where we again strike the original lake shore ; at 
ten miles, 40 feet ; at eleven miles, 65 feet ; at twelve miles, 83 feet ; 
from this point there is a gradual descent to Des Plaines River, where 
the elevation is 33 feet ; thence the ascent is gradual and at twenty 
miles distant it is 96 feet.f It will be seen from the foregoing that the 
highest point within five miles of the mouth of Chicago River, in any 
direction, is only 23 feet, and for ten miles, 48 feet above the level of 
the lake ; and that a large portion of this ground is low and swampy, 
with but little surface drainage, and an average elevation of about 1 3 
feet. As a necessary consequence, as in all plains, great and sudden 
changes of moisture and temperature take place. The winds, meet- 
ing with no obstruction, have full sweep ; in fact, the topography of 
the surroundings of the city tends to this result, favoring even the 
prevailing winds of this latitude. The only interruption in this open 
plain to the winds, may be said to be the narrow belt of timber on 
the Des Plaines, and with here and there an occasional patch of thinly 
covered wood-land, on the elevations which once were the shores 
of the lake. With this exception, the open plain may be said to con- 
tinue for a great distance north-west, west, and south-west. It is true, 
timber is scattered north and south, but unfortunately not enough to 
materially influence the climate, in addition to the fiict that the 
winds are rarely from either direction. In an area of 400 squai'e 
miles surrounding Chicago, there are only about 20 square miles 
thinly covered with timber ; ten of these are found on the north side 
of the city, and along the North Branch of Chicago River ; five 
south and south-east ; and ten on the ridges six miles west, and in 
the valley of Des Plaines River. 

LAKE MICHIGAN. 

Of all the local conditions that obtain at Chicago, none exercise 
a greater influence on the climate than Lake Michigan. It 
moderates the extreme cold of winter, and the oppressive heat of 
summer ; increases the humidity of the atmosphere, and the 

* Northwestern R. R. 
t Galena R. R. 



52 Public Parks. 

quantity of rain that falls, and causes local currents of air, thus 
partially changing the prevailing winds of this latitude, producing 
necessarily local changes of temperature. These local undulations 
are most marked in the spring, owing to the fact that the specific 
heat of land is only one-quarter that of water, and it both absorbs 
and gives it out more rapidly ; while water, on the other hand, 
absorbs it more slowly, stores up a greater quantity, and parts with 
it less readily, owing, no doubt to the difference in the conducting 
and radiating properties of both. It is mainly owing to this fact 
that our springs are so cold, raw, and long continued ; that is, the 
water is not as soon heated as the land, thus giving rise to local 
changes of temperature, and of w^inds. In the autumn the heat 
of the water is less readily abstracted than that of the land, thus 
causing the temperatui'e in the immediate vicinity of the lake to be 
milder than even at localities further south and west, as, during 
last September, October, and November, the mean temjDerature 
of Springfield, was nearly the same as at Chicago.* This was no 
doubt owing to the fact that the temperature of the lake was more 
than ordinarily high in July and August ; as, on July 30th, the ther- 
mometer indicated 72"! ^t a depth of thirty feet, while the mean 
temperature of the air, on the same day, was 83 , and even 
later the extraordinary warmth of the water that passed through 
the Tunnel attracted attention, and it was supposed that the water 
supplied to the city, did not come through the Tunnel, and that an 
accident had occurred, and the supply was being pumped up from 
near the shore. The mean temperature of the lake is no doubt the 
same as that of the land for the year, differing only in the absorbing 
and parting power of heat ; as is evidenced by the fact that the 
freezing point only obtains a short distance from the shore. It will 
therefore be seen how, for eight months of the year, and sometimes 
even nine, the lake exercises a wholesome influence upon the health, 
counteracting, to some extent, the great and sudden changes incident 
to our level and open topography, while during the remaining 
months it is injurious to health, on account of the cold and chilling 
effect it has, in addition to causing sudden changes. Owing to its 
large evaporating surface, it supplies a large amount of the oxygen 
that is consumed here, thus purifying the atmosphere. 



* AgriculturaJ Bureau Reports. 
t Langguth. 



Public Parks. 53 



GEOLOGY. 



The geological structure of the region embracing Chicago and the 
surrounding country is exceedingly simple. The underlying rock 
is the Niagara limestone which has a general dip to N. N, E., and 
consequently sinks deeper as traced lake-ward. This rock is seen at 
the surface at several points in the city and vicinity. Upon this floor 
was originally deposited a mass of blue clay, not less than one 
hundred feet in thickness, but as traced toward the former rim of the 
lake it rapidly thins out. This rim is clearly defined in one or more 
terraces, which are traceable from the head of the lake far into 
Indiana, but to the west of the city 8^ miles distant, at Harlem, they 
constitute the divide between the waters of Lake Michigan and the 
Mississippi. While the lake has receded far below its former level, 
it has left behind a series of sand ridges, the intervals between which 
are occupied by ponds, which by reason of the sluggish flow of the 
water and their sheltered position, have proved favorable to the 
growth of peat-producing plants, from whose decay have resulted 
large accumulations of humus or vegetable matter. It is upon this 
ancient lake-bed that the city is founded. The original surface was 
diversified by sand banks, most abundant along the lake shore 
extending occasionally to the depth of 16 feet, by partly filled 
lagoons, and a vegetable mould (which covers the greater portion 
of the city), resting sometimes on blue clay, and sometimes on 
beds of sand and gravel, and occasionally mixed, — the depth of 
these being governed by their proximity to the Chicago river and its 
branches. The whole region was originally low, flat and ill-drained. 
Some of the business blocks are built upon partly filled lagoons. In 
the soundings made by Mr. Chesbrough, City Engineer, prepara- 
tory to completing the Tunnel for the Water Works, it was found 
that the lake-bed was composed of blue clay with superficial sands 
above, which shifted in everv heavy storm. 

Such a soil must necessarily exercise a decided influence upon 
the health of those living upon it, depending of course whether their 
houses rest upon sand, clay, or humus. Sandy soils absorb and 
retain heat much longer, while the clays and humus are cold, and 
absorb heat slowly. Sand absorbs and retains little water ; clays 
twenty times more ; and humus, or surface soil, fifty times more than 
sand ; and in this way, to some extent, the relative healthfulness 
of different portions of this city, and even of wards, can be accounted 
for. 

5 



54 Public Parks. 

WINDS — Their Influence on Health. 

Winds are the result of changes of temperature and the pre- 
cipitation of moisture, acting as clianges of density, and as the 
movements of bodies would act to produce currents and movements 
in a mass of water.* This is the strictly meteorological definition, 
but in a sanitary point of view, there are none of the atmospheric 
phenomena that exercise a greater influence for good or evil. The 
free inovement of air in summer, in certain localities, is beneficial in 
dissipating noxious emanations, and purifying the atmosphere, while 
in the same locality, in the cold season, it abstracts heat, depending, 
of course, on its velocity and humidity, and thus acting injuriously 
upon life. The seeds of disease are frequently wafted by winds 
over unhealthy localities, and thus causing those who live quite 
remote from the exciting cause to suffer. Fevers and acute pulmo- 
nary and inflammatory diseases do not usually manifest themselves 
under the influence of the same wind, although fever and certain 
other diseases may occur in connection with any currents which 
waft the air from the neighboring surfaces, where the elaboration of 
the morbific cause is going on. 

NORTH WIND. 

The north wind is less frequent than any other. It generally 
exercises a beneficial influence, and in winter is the mildest, with the 
exception of the south-east and east, owing to the lake and the trees 
found north of the city. In summer it is cool and refreshing. This 
wind, like all others, is influenced by locality in its effects upon 
health, as in New Orleans, in summer, it always causes sickness. 

north-east wind. 

The north-east is the most common wind in spring and summer. 
In the months of March, April, and May, it is a cold, moist wind, 
and continues so until the temperature of the earth is higher than 
that of the lake, when it becomes cool and pleasant, remaining so 
until November, or until the temperature of the earth becomes lower 
than that of the lake. This wind increases pulmonary, rheumatic 
and inflammatory diseases in spring, and is the main reason why 
that season of the year is so long-continued and unpleasant ; but 
during extreme heat and cold it is beneficial. The north-east wind 
blows malarial fever into portions of Rome. In Batavia this wind 

* Blodgett's Climatology. 



Public Parks. 55 

is highly unfavorable to health. On the west side of the town of 
Marenne, in France, are situated vast marshes, and when the wind 
blows from the north and north-east, fevers are rare ; but when the 
wind blows from the west, south-west, or south, so as to pass over 
these surfaces before reaching the town, fevers make their appear- 
ance. On the contrary, at Saint Agnant, situated opposite to 
Marenne, and on the other side of the marshes, the conditions are 
reversed, and during the prevalence of the east wind the town 
becomes sickly. 

EAST WIND. 

The east wind, with the exception of the north, is the least 
frequent, and is more common in spring than any other season of 
the year. In winter it is warm, and while from this direction there 
is a diminution in the number of cases of acute inflammatory 
diseases, and only a short time in spring is it disagreeable. The 
lake exercises a marked influence upon this wind, and that from the 
north-east. Edinburgh is supposed to be subject to fever through 
the agency of the east wind which afts it from Holland, and the 
same wind wafts malaria from Essex to London. 

SOUTH-EAST WIND. 

Of all the winds, none is so depressing and enervating as the 
south-east. It is a warm, moist wind, oppressive to man and beast, 
in consequence of checking evaporation, thus raising the temperature 
of the body, and causing the lungs to exhale a larger amount of car- 
bonic acid than usual,* and in this way exhausting the vital energies. 
In addition to the ordinary effect of a warm, moist wind, it is loaded 
in the summer and autumn with the noxious exhalations of the 
swampy region south-east of the city bordering on the lake and 
Calumet river. The topography of the country south and south-east 
of the city is such as to promote currents of air from this direction, 
and even to direct them toward the city, as they meet with but little 
obstruction, causing this wind to be more frequent than if such were 
not the case, it being here more of a local than general wind. When 
the weather has been intensely cold for a number of days, a change 
to this direction, will diminish mortality, but for at least nine months 
of the year it is the most fatal wind. In the summer and autumn, 
even when no epidemic tendency exists, a change to this direction 
generally terminates fatally to nearly all diseases, where the patient 

* Lehmann. 



56 Public Parks. 

has been hanging, as it were, '•'in the balance." It also increases all 
infantile and bowel affections. The most marked change that I have 
noticed, occurred on July i6th, 186S, when the wind blew from the. 
north-east, and the mortality was 21 ; on the 17th it changed to the 
south-east, and 38 died ; iSth, wind continuing from the same direc- 
tion, 63 deaths (the highest mortality in a single day for two years,) 
occurred, the mean temperature of the two days being nearly 86 
degrees. On the 19th. the wind changed to the north-east, and 
the mortality diminished to 35, with a mean temperature of ^^.66 
degrees. It was at this time that the greatest mortality occurred in 
the 1 2th ward, in the extreme north-western ward of the city. This 
fact clearly shows that its poisonous qualities, were added to the nox- 
ious emanations of the city, increasing in its intensity as it progi'essed 
north-westward. This wind carries with it the plague to Constan- 
tinople and various parts of Russia and Poland, in fact, to all the 
countries of Europe bordering on the Mediterranean. It produces 
an unfavorable influence on the health of London and Dutch Guiana. 
At Burlington, Iowa, in July, 1850, the wind was in this direction 
during the prevalence of the cholera as an epidemic, but upon its 
changing to the north-west, the disease immediately abated, and the 
cholera re-appeared a few days after, when the wind changed again 
to this direction. Here the wind passed over the Mississippi bottom 
on the Illinois side. In 1851 the cholera broke out at Oquawka, 
Illinois, fifteen miles above Burlington, while the wind was from 
the Avest. Here the low lands and swamps are on the Iowa side. 
At this time there was no cholera at Burlington. 

SOUTH WIND. 

The south wind is more common than either the east or north. It 
is most frequent in winter, and it is rarely that it is for a day from this 
quarter, and then only when the wind is shifting from the south-west 
to the south-east, or from the south-east to the south-west. The 
ground directly south of the city is unfavorable to this current, as 
the surface of the country rapidly rises beyond Blue Island, forming 
depressions both east and west. In winter the south wind exercises 
a beneficial influence in moderating the extreme cold of the westei'ly 
winds, diminishing the mortality, and the same result is observable 
in spring. In the summer it prevails only when great changes have 
taken place, and its influence is quite marked, as between the damp 
south-east, and the dry south-west. In autumn its eflect on health is 
not apparent. 



Public Parks. 57 

SOUTH-WEST WIND. 

The prevailing wind, not alone of Chicago, but of the greater por- 
tion of the valley of the Mississippi, is the south-west. In 1868, it was 
the hottest and coldest,* and, when great disturbances take place, the 
same has been observed to occur within the short period of a month. 
In the summer it is hot, dry and relaxing, causing at first free evapo- 
ration ; but if long continued, it produces harshness and dryness of 
the skin, and general malaise ; in winter it is dry, cold, and sharp. 
It partakes of the character of the country, and of the seasons ; the 
surface being a flat, level plain, with an altitude of only 10 feet above 
the level of the lake at the highest point, necessarily a large portion 
swampy, with nothing to impede its sweep, plainly showing how it 
may alternately be the hottest and coldest, even in so short a period 
as a month. It is the normal wind of the summer and autumn in 
this latitude, but owing to the local topography, and the gi'eat and 
sudden changes incident thereto, it alternates in frequency, between 
summer, autumn, and winter. This wind having a greater elabora- 
ting surface than any other, necessarily exercises a great influence upon 
health, in addition to its wafting the malarious exhalations of Mud 
Lake, and the region contiguous to the Illinois and Michigan canal, 
over every portion of our city, and next to the south-east is the 
most fatal ; and, owing to its being the most prevalent wind, causes 
the greatest mortality.! 

* In I867 a very abl^ and interesting memorial was presented to the Michigan Legislature, in 
obedience to instructions received from the State Board of Agriculture by T. T. Lyon and Santord 
Howard, Esqrs., on the change of climate caused by the destruction of the forest trees, and the conse- 
quent injurious effect upon crops and fruit trees, petitioning the Legislature to enact laws to prevent 
the unnecessary destruction of the forests, and to encourage the planting of trees, as a means of shelter 
and protection to crops and fruit trees. In this report they alluded to the change that had taken 
place in the older portion of the State, within the last thirty years, in the extremes of heat and cold ; 
the greater prevalence and force of the winds ; resulting in the destruction of peach trees, wheat, com, 
and the winter killing of clover. The memorial says: " Last year the loss in all that part of the State 
lying south of the Michigan Central Railroad, 'a region deprived of the ameliorating influence of Lake 
Michigan, or the south-west wind, and composing the richest agricultural portion of the State, was 
estimated at no less than three-fourths of the entire wheat crop ! From what enquiries your comrnittee 
have been able to make, the loss on the wheat crop alone, of this State, for the last four years, isnot 
less than $20,000,000. Your committee would be most happy to believe that this enormous loss springs 
from causes evanescent in their nature, and destined speedily to pass away, to return nevermore. But 
vour committee are fearful that these vast losses "are but the beginning of sorrow," and that the improv- 
idence which laid our open fields to that scourge of God, the south-west wind, by the wholesale destruction 
of our forests, is now only beginning to reap the fruit of that want of forethought, and that these losses 
can be avoided only by restoring, in part at least, the natural barriers against the wind." 

Diagrams are given showing the influence of the winds on temperature and rain, for four years, at 
Lansing, clearly demonstrating that the conclusions of the committee were based upon facts. An 
examination of the topography of the lower and central portions of Michigan will show the cause of 
the frequency and influence of the south-west wind. The Legislature, with commendable judgment 
and foresight, passed a law encouraging the planting of trees and shrubs along the highways, also 
providing for their care and protection. 

t The effect of this wind on the health of the city, particularly in summer and autumn, will be 
appreciated, when it is borne in mind that a large extent of the surface over which it passes before 
reaching the city, is covered by water in the spring, which is evaporated during the summer and autumn, 
leaving the large quantity of humus, or vegetable mould that covers it, exposed to the influence of the 
Sim and air, in addition to liberating a large portion of the carbonic acid that is held by the soil. What 
makes it still worse, is the fact that but little of the soil for mileS in this direction is cultivated. 



58 Public Parks. 

WEST WIND. 

The west wind is more common than any from the direct points 
of the compass, and is most frequent in winter, when it is generally 
the coldest and driest, owing to the fact that the ground is higher 
and drier than in any other direction. The greatest mortality, when 
this wind prevails in winter, is by acute inflammatory diseases, and 
occasionally in autumn and spring ; but in summer a change to this 
quarter from the south is cooling to the atmosphere and invigorating, 
and its influence is marked in a great diminution in the number of 
deaths. Generally speaking, less mortality occurs than from any 
other direction, and it may be said to be the healthiest wind during 
the entire year. 

NORTH-WEST WIND. 

The north-west wind might with propriety be called Boreas, as it 
is a cold, fierce, and penetrating wind in winter ; in spring cold, 
blear and bleak ; and in summer cool and refreshing. The topog- 
raphy of the country north-west of the City tends to the formation 
of currents in this direction, at the same time there being no obstruc- 
tions to their full sweep, their velocity is greater than from any other 
quarter. In fact the character of the country over which it passes 
is impressed upon it, as it is occasionally the coldest, but never the 
warmest. It is pretty equally divided in frequency between winter, 
spring, and autumn, and is least prevalent in summer. Its influence 
on health is most marked in winter, and particularly in spring when 
it causes great changes of temperature, resulting in pulmonary, 
rheumatic, neuralgiac, and inflammatory diseases, while in the 
summer it diminishes mortality, and exercises a wholesome influence 
upon health. 

I do not wish to be understood as saying that winds alone are the 
cause of death, but that owing to local causes they increase mor- 
tality, which would not be the case if these conditions did not obtain. 
While I fully appreciate the important part they play in purifying 
the atmosphere, I do mean to say that in some seasons certain winds 
increase mortality, or, in other words, that tlxere are times here 
when we have too much wind, as I have already shown that this 
may be the case in winds from any direction. 

The following tables have been prepared with much care, the 
facts having been obtained from all sources at my command, and 
will corroborate what I have said with regard to the prevalence and 
influence of winds. 



Public Parks. 



59 



Table Showing Direction of Wind, Highest, Lowest, Mean, and 
Range of Thermometer, with Rain, Snow, and Mortality, by 
Months, for Five Consecutive Years. 

1859. Popu.lation-lOljT'SO. 



DIRECTION OF WIND. 


TEMPERATURE. 




















^ o 










!5 


o 


^ 

s 




















=> s 








» 


< 


Iz; 


-<1 




















^« 








o 


K 




H 




S5 




w 


H 


9 


20 


13 


.5 


O 
62 


w 

44 


-8 


27.8 


IS 

52 










No. Days 


o 


January 


1 


8 


5 


4 


131 


February . . . 


2 


4 


3 


6 


4 


20 


8 


9 


56 


58 


1 


32.4 


57 


6 


10 


115 


March 


4 


8 


4 


(i 


3 


27 


8 


2 


62 


62 


26 


41.7 


36 


8 


3 


132 


April 


.5 


24 




7 




10 


14 




60 


58 


26 


41.6 


32 


11 




155 




3 
2 


22 
20 


1 
4 


4 
8 


5 
2 


21 
14 


3 
9 


4 

1 


62 
«0 


82 
90 


42 
41 


59 
62.3 


40 
49 


8 
6 


4 


115 


June 


112 


July 


7 
4 


18 


7 
17 


15 
14 


2 


10 

8 


1 


2 
4 


62 
54 


95 
91 


52 
55 


75.5 

68 8 


43 
36 


4 

7 




164 


August . . . 


325 


September. . 


2 


14 


2 


11 


4 


Iti 


2 


9 


60 


74 


46 


62.6 


28 


5 




190 


October 


3 


10 




2 


6 


17 


18 


6 


62 


7H 


26 


49.4 


.50 


8 


i 


160 


November... 


2 


5 


2 


13 


8 


10 


13 


7 


60 


70 


16 


40.2 


54 


9 


4 


102 


December... 


3 


1 




10 


1 


17 


16 


14 


62 


36 


20 


19.4 


16 


2 


11 


125 


Total 


38 


141 


40 


96 


44 


196 


104 


63 


722 










79 


37 


1,826 















I860. Population. — 109,260. 





1 
4 




4 

7 


2 


27 
18 


21 
13 


9 
13 


62 

58 


50 
54 


-21 
-5 


23.3 
30.6 


71 
59 


3 
6 


7 

7 


115 


February 


1 


128 


March 


14 


3 




7 


4 


16 


15 


3 


62 


71 


23 


42.6 


48 


4 


3 


180 


April 




26 
15 


5 
10 


9 
6 


3 

2 


6 
10 


6 

7 


5 
11 


60 
62 


76 

87 


32 
34 


47.8 
61.5 


44 
53 


8 

7 


2 


131 


May.. 


1 


102 


June 


8 


14 


6 


8 




8 


6 


8 


60 


88 


.50 


65 


38 


7 




155 


July 


2 


21 


2 


8 




14 


3 


2 


52 


89 


58 


73.2 


31 


14 




288 


August 


2 


21 


7 


10 




13 


2 


7 


62 


86 


58 


72.2 


28 


7 




308 


September. . . 


4 


8 


3 


16 


3 


12 


4 


9 


59 


84 


43 


62.7 


41 


10 




174 


October 


5 


12 


8 


5 


4 


9 


2 


17 


62 


77 


35 


53.7 


42 


7 




149 


November. . . 


2 


6 




10 


4 


14 


13 


13 


62 


55 


4 


37.3 


51 


12 


3 


170 


December 


4 


1 


5 


6 


3 


10 
157 


16 

108 


17 
114 


62 
723 


46 


8 


25.5 


38 


3 

~88 


11 
33 


158 




43 


132 


46 


96 


27 


2,056 















1861. Population— 123,633. 



January 




2 


3 


8 


4 


13 


15 


16 


61 


40 


-3 


24.4 


43 


2 


r. 


173 


February 




1 


6 


7 


2 


21 


8 


11 


56 


60 


-5 


31.3 


65 


2 


8 


135 


March 


5 


7 


3 


5 


6 


10 


4 


22 


62 


68 


34 


35.2 


34 


9 


3 


172 


April 


4 


9 


12 


2 


3 


14 


8 


8 


60 


78 


34 


45 


44 


7 




126 


May 


3 
4 


21 
23 


9 
1 


6 
5 


3 

2 


5 
14 


6 
2 


10 
9 


63 
60 


82 
86 


35 
52 


54.5 

69.8 


47 
34 


11 
4 




134 


June 


131 


July 


2 


9 


5 


8 




28 


4 


8 


64 


92 


55 


71 


37 


4 




239 


AutiUst 


1 


22 




8 


1 


17 


1 


12 


62 


95 


66 


73.1 


35 


5 




262 


September. .. 


1 


15 


2 


3 


3 


17 


6 


13 


60 


83 


50 


64.7 


33 


12 




24 <• 


October 


1 


7 


3 


3 


13 


13 


6 


17 


63 


74 


34 54.5 


40 


5 


.. 120 


November 


4 


7 


1 


8 


6 


10 


3 


21 


60 


.57 


13 


41.7 


44 


10 


3 


155 


December 


3 


2 


1 


3 


8 


20 


10 


14 


61 


66 


2 


30.7 


64 


3 

74 


2 
93 


195 


TOTAIi. 


28 


125 


46 


66 


51 


182 


73 


161 


732 


2,089 
















6o 



Public Parks. 



Table Showing Direction of Wind, Highest, Lowest, Mean, and 
Range of Thermometer, with Rain, Snow, and Mortality, by 
Months for Five Consecutive Years. — Continued. 



1862. Popialation — 138,186. 



DIRECTION OF WIND. 




TEMPERATURE. 






















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28.2 


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January 




12 


2 


8 


3 


11 


7 


19 


62 


49' 4 


11 


174 


February . . . 




6 




6 


10 


8 


2 


24 


56 


45 


-8 


24.3 


53 




6 


197 


March 


in 


21 


4 


3 


4 


ti 


4 


10 


62 


m 


16 


36 8 


34 




2 


199 


April 


s 


2.S 


8 


2 


7 


7 


2 


3 


60 


72 


32 


46.9 


47 


14 




187 


May 


.s 


19 


12 


H 


4 


11 


3 


2 


62 


82 


40 


55.9 


42 


13 




168 


June 


7 


28 


4 


5 


3 


12 


2 


4 


60 


84 


48 


62.7 


36 


13 




156 


July 


h 


22 


2 


2 


3 


23 


1 


4 


62 


96 


59 


76.3 


37 


11 




274 


August 


4 


10 


4 


10 


13 


17 




4 


62 


87 


59 


75,3 


28 


6 




304 


September. . 


5 


7 


fi 


7 


21 


9 


3 


2 


60 


83 


46 


65.2 


37 


12 




271 


October 


4 


6 


1 


8 


.5 


24 


1 


12 


61 


82 


30 55.2 


52 


3 


2 


246 


November. . 


.5 


9 


2 


4 


2 


19 


6 


13 


60 


68 


28 


39.9 


40 


5 


3 


196 


December . . 


6 


5 


1 


4 


18 


14 
161 


11 

42 


3 
100 


62 

729 


56 


5 


34.5 


51 


4 
85 


24 


203 




57 


163 


46 


67 


93 


2,575 















1865. Population — 178,492. 



January 




fi 




1 


2 


37 


4 


12 


62 


50 


-2 




52 




2 


225 


February . . . 


1 


14 




6 


5 


16 


5 


10 


57 


46 


-16 




30 


1 


8 


256 


March 


4 


9 


6 


5 




25 


4 


9 


62 


70 


3 




67 


3 


3 


2<9 






19 
32 


2 
4 


6 

4 




18 
12 


4 
4 


11 
4 


60 
62 


76 
85 


18 
42 




58 
43 


15 
5 


2 


250 


May 


2 


229 


June 


2 


18 




4 




32 


2 


3 


61 


94 


54 




40 


6 




195 


July 


1 


23 


2 


2 




21 


4 


7 


60 


90 


54 




36 


17 




425 


August 


1 


31 


2 


1 


6 


20 




1 


62 


90 


54 




36 


16 




464 


September.. 


6 


1 


4 


4 


12 


27 


4 


2 


60 


90 


52 


.... 


38 


10 





346 


October 


7 


13 


4 


4 


14 


8 


7 


5 


62 


78 


30 




48 


8 


1 


360 


November.. 


7 


6 


2 


6 


14 


13 


6 


6 


60 


64 


26 


.... 


38 


8 


2 


299 


December . . 


6 


5 


1 


4 


18 


14 


11 


3 


62 


46 


-10 




56 


2 
91 


5 


333 


Total 


37 


177 


27 


47 


71 


243 


55 


73 


730 


23 


3,661 















Tot'l 5Yks 


203 


738 


205 


372 


286 


9.39 


382 


511 












' 










The above table was partially compiled from a very able and 
interesting " Report on the Climate, Topography, and Epidemic 
Diseases of Illinois," by Dr. R. C. Hamill, of this city. I regret 
that the facts for 1863 and 1864 could not be obtained, this gap 
necessarily detracting from the value of the table. From even these 
imperfect data, it v^ill be seen that owing to the constant climatic 
changes, great fluctuations of mortality occur ; one year heavy and 
the next light, modified occasionally by epidemics. This fluctuation 
is the more striking when the constant increase in population is 
borne in mind, and they have been more marked since i860 than 
before, particularly during the last five years. 



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Public Parks. 67 

In the table on page 61, is shown the frequency of the wind from 
the different points of the compass, the number of days in which the 
winds prevailed, and the mortality that occurred on the days that 
the winds blew from the respective directions. It must necessarily 
be approximate, as the effect of the daily changes is not always 
manifest, and the fact, that frequently when the observations were 
made (three per day), the wind was from different directions, 
necessitating the study of each day separately and connectedly ; 
representing in figures, as near as possible, the effect of the different 
winds on mortality. While there may be mistakes in single days, I 
am satisfied that in the main they are correct. 

The following figures represent the average daily mortality for the 
last three years, when the wind prevailed from the different directions : 

N. N. E. E. S. E. S. S.W. W. N. W. 
11.96 16.1S 11,13 iS-59 13-35 13-35 12.25 13-94 
It will be noticed that the daily mortality for 1866, while the 
wind was from the north-east, was nearly as great as when it blew 
from the south-east. This result was caused by the cholera, which 
became epidemic in October. For four days, that is, from the 5th to 
the 9th, the wind was from the south-west, and dry, with a mean 
temperature of 65°. In the afternoon of the 9th, the wind changed 
to the north-west, reducing the temperature to 59°, the mortality 
increasing from 37 on the 6th, to 6^ on the 9th. On the loth, the 
wind changed to the north-east, with an increase of temperature of 
3°, and the mortality reached 98 ; on the nth, the temperature was 
4° lower, and the deaths reached 71 ; on the 12th, the temperature 
rose 1°, and there were 82 deaths ; on the 13th, the temperature rose 
3° higher, and there were 73 deaths ; on the 14th, the wind changed 
to the south-east in the morning, but veered again to north-east, when 
there were 61 deaths ; the same occurred on the 15th, with a lowered 
temperature of 4°, and 6S deaths; on the i6th, the wind changed 
to the south-east, and there were 53 deaths; and on the 17th, the 
wind changed to the south-west, and there were 43 deaths ; and from 
this time the number gradually diminished. It will be seen that, for 
four days in succession, the south-west wind prevailed ; and for four 
days the north-east ; and for two more, its inffuence was felt, with a 
higher temperature than has since been observed for the same lengtli 
of time. On the loth, nth, and 12th, the motion of the air was 
barely perceptible, and was saturated with moisture, to such an 
extent as to partially obscure the sun, hanging over the city like a pall. 



68 Public Parks. 

The high temperature and dry south-west wind had ah'eady 
paved the way for this great mortality ; and when to this was added 
the moist warm north-east wind, all the atmospheric conditions were 
prepared, and it only needed the presence of cholera to make it 
epidemic. Secretion of the skin was checked, the lungs were called 
upon to throw oft' an unusual amount of carbonic acid, thus reducing 
the vital powers, and the bowels were necessarily required to excrete 
moi'e, and with what effect is but too well-known. This stillness of 
the atmosphere continued for three days, when, on the 14th, more 
activity was perceptible, with an abatement of the epidemic. The 
ratio would still be more marked, had a record been kept of all that 
died. That portion of the table referring to 1867, may be regarded 
as nearer the normal condition than that of either '66 or '68. The 
general health was remarkably good, but in 1868, there was a great 
increase of mortality, without any epidemic tendency, and the causes 
of which will be alluded to hereafter. 

The table on page 62, shows the inftuence of Lake Michigan 
and of the cardinal winds upon life. It will be seen that more 
deaths occurred in 1866, w^hen the westerly winds prevailed, and in 
the autumn, than at any other season ; also, in winter and spring, and 
that the greatest mortality occurred in summer by the southerly 
winds, and the least when easterly winds prevailed. In 1867, the 
mortality was more equally distributed between westerly and easterly 
winds, and the greatest number of deaths occurred during the pre- 
valence of westerly winds, and in summer ; and that the least 
mortality took place in the spring, the season of the year when the 
causes of death are less rife than any other, unless more than 
ordinary conditions obtain. In 1S68, the greatest mortality occurred 
during the prevalence of easterly winds, and in summer. This year, 
also, differs from the other years by the unusually great mortality 
that occurred in winter. 

By reference to the table on page 63, will be seen the influence 
of temperature and rain on mortality, by seasons. During the 
winter of 1866, it was cold, and great mortality occurred during the 
westerly winds, not much rain falling ; in spring, it was warm, and 
the mortality was greater than usual, particularly when the north- 
west wind prevailed ; the summer was cold, and a large quantity of 
rain fell, and deaths took place propoi'tionably ; and in autumn it 
was unusually warm, a large amount of rain also falling ; cholera 
prevailed, and the greatest mortality took place when the wind was 



Public Parks. 69 

from the north-east. From the ist to the sist day of October, the 
mean temperature was 63°. The winter of 1S67 was milder than 
that of 1 866, and, although there was a great increase in population, 
80 more deaths occurred ; the spring was colder, and the mortality 
still less ; the summer was warmer than 1866, and the decrease in 
the number of deaths was still more marked ; the autumn was colder, 
and the mortality was not much over one-half as great. It will be 
obsei^ved that in this year (1867,) the mortality was more equally 
distributed between the westerly and easterly winds, and that the 
difference between the number that died while northerly and south- 
erly winds prevailed, was nearer the normal number, and that the 
deaths were more equally distributed among the seasons than 
during either of the other years. 

In 1868 the extreme cold of winter, with the extreme heat of 
spring and summer, and cold of autumn, with the unusual amount 
of rain that fell, greatly increased the mortality, although no 
epidemic prevailed. In the winter the mortality was unusually 
heavy, pailicularly during the prevalence of the north-west and 
south-west winds. 

The tables on pages 64 and 6c^., illustrate the frequent changes 
of temperature in the direction of the wind, and in them may be 
found a record of the great climatic changes that have taken place 
here within the last three years. 

A careful examination of the table on page dd.^ will show the 
influence of temperature and rain upon health. In that for 1S66, 
will be noticed the mildness of January, the cold of February, the 
warmth of March, April, and May, the coldness of June, and 
extraordinary range of temperature, the warmth of July, and cold- 
ness of August, and, still more marked, that of September, with the 
extraordinary warmth of October, November, and December ; also, 
the great amount of rain that fell in the last half of this year, and 
all conditions conducing to and explaining the great fatality incident 
to that season of the year. In 1867 the temperature during the entire 
year was seasonable, — cold in winter, milder in spring, warm in 
summer, and pleasant in autumn, without any great extreme. 
About the usual amount of rain fell in the first half of the vear, 
but in July, August, and September, an unusually small quantity fell. 
This season of dryness, in a sanitary point of view, was beneficial, 
owing to the want of drainage in a large portion of our city, in 
diminishing mortality. The influence of this equability of temper- 
7 



7o Public Parks. 

ature, and the small amount of rain that fell, is marked in the great 
diminution of deaths in all the months but January and December, 
as compared with iS66, although a great increase in population 
had taken place. 

A striking contrast is, however, found in 1 868, when the extremes 
of heat and cold were very marked, w^ith the fall of an unusually 
large amount of rain. January and February were very cold, March 
warm, April cold, May warm, and June cold, July and August 
intensely hot ; and from this time, the temperature gradually low- 
ered, until the early part of December when it became intensely 
cold. The increase of mortality this year, compared with 1867, is 
great, although no epidemic prevailed, cleai^ly demonstrating the 
influence of tempei*ature and moisture upon health. 

TEMPERATURE. 

The frequent and sudden changes of temperature, at Chicago, are 
caused more by the winds than any other cause, owing to the open 
treeless plain upon which it is located, assisted by the evaporation 
from Lake Michigan. In the northern hemisphere the coldest month 
is January. In some parts of Canada, at Mackinac and Detroit, it is 
February ; at Fort Snelling and St. Louis, in January. Here the mean 
temperature is coldest in January, rarely in February ; in thirteen 
years the temperature was lowest for five years, in January ; five, in 
February ; and three, in December. The hottest month in most places 
is July ; in a few, August ; and at sea, it is always August. Here it is 
generally July, but sometimes it is August ; and the highest tempera- 
ture for thirteen years, was in June, four ; July, six ; and August, three 
times. The undulations of temperature are greatest in the interior of 
continents, remote from larpre bodies of water. Here, as well as at 
Toledo, Detroit, Mackinac and Milwaukee, the range is not as great 
as in the country south and west. 

From observations made in the outskirts of the city, north, south 
and west, during the past year, I am satisfied that the range of 
temperature has increased at least two degrees, since the observations 
were made at Fort Dearborn, from 1833 to 1836, and that this 
increase in range is not as great north of the city, as south and west. 
The range north, for 186S, was 117° ; south, 120° ; west, 121° ; while 
at 119 Randolph street, it was only 111°. The mean annual temper- 
ature has also increased about two degrees, although the observations 
made at 119 Randolph street, for the last three years, indicated a 



Public Parks. 



71 



mean temperature of 50.2°. The extremes of heat and cold are more 
marked in the outskirts, than in the city, where, no doubt, the build- 
ings have some influence in moderating the tempei-ature ; as, by 
comparison, I find that in May, June, July, and August, it was colder 
in the heart of the city, but the remainder of the year it is colder on 
the outskirts. The only way in which this change of climate can 
be accounted for is, that since 1S36, at least two-thirds of the timber 
that covered the country on which Chicago now stands, and its 
vicinity, has been destroyed, and that the region directly north of the 
city approximates nearer to the conditions that obtained, when the 
observations were made at Fort Dearborn, and that less timber has 
been destroyed there than in any other direction.* The following 
table, compiled mainly from the Army Medical Reports, for 1S60, 
will give some idea of the relative temperature of the different 
localities, as compared with Chicago. Many of the observations 
extend over a long period, and were made before the settlement of 
the country had any influence upon the climate of the locality. 



Annual Mean and Eange of Thermometer. 



St. Louis 

Detroit 

Mackinac 

SauU St. Marie . . 

Fort Howard 

Prairie du Cliien. 

Rock Island 

Fort Eipley 

Fort Suelling 

Council Bluffs. . . 

Fort Laramie 

Toledo* 

Milwaukee t 

Chicago 

Chicago X 

Near Chicago II 

Chicago 

Lansing § 



MEAN. RANGE. 



54.56 
47.21 
40.89 
40.40 
44.49 
47.68 
50.23 
39.30 
44.52 
49.28 
49.91 
50.05 
4G.07 
46.75 
50.26 
47.77 
49.08 
46.28 



125 
107 
117 
131 
138 
132 
120 
147 
140 
129 
133 
103 

niir 

116 
113 
120 
111 
107 



Mean of Thermometer by Seasons. 



SPRING. SUMMER AUTDMN WINTER 



54.15 

45.75 
36.73 
37.53 
43.52 
48.66 
50.52 
39.33 
45.54 
49.28 
46.84 
48.17 
43.68 
44.90 
46.80 
47.00 
48.30 
43.77 



76.36 
07.60 
61.95 
62.21 
68.51 
72.28 
74.12 
64.94 
70.61 
74.76 
71.94 
70.86 
67.44 
67.33 
71.38 
75.00 
73.66 
63.98 



55.44 
48.67 
44.85 
43.54 
46.01 
48.53 
51.42 
42.91 
45.89 
51.36 
50.32 
51.39 
48.81 
48.84 
54.60 
48.60 
52.66 
48.46 



32.27 
26.84 
20.04 
18.32 
19.91 
21.25 
24.88 
10.01 
16.05 
21.73 
30.54 
28.91 
20.47 
25.90 
26.13 
20.40 
21.30 
23.87 



12Yrs. 
13 " 
24 " 

21 " 
19 " 
11'/," 

6 " 
35 " 

7 " 

6 " 

7 " 

22 " 
1832-1836 
1866-67-68 
1868 

18U6-67. 



* Dr. Trembly. 



t L A. Lapham. % 
*i Range for 



Laugguth. 
three years 



Brooks. § Kedzie. 



* Horticulturists and florists inform me that there is less danger from frost, and that generally 
speaking, the products of the garden thrive better north of the city than in any other dh-ection. 



72 



Public Parks. 



RAIN. 

With the change of temperature, I am of the opinion that less 
rain falls, and that there ai'e greater extremes of wet and drought, 
than when the country was first settled, although the observations do 
not extend over a period sufficiently long to determine the fact. The 
following table will show the quantity of rain that fell at the several 
points for three consecutive years : 





1866. 


1867. 


1868. 




33.96 
40.68 
39.51 
36.65 


24.62 

24.57 
21.86 


29 37* 


Toledo, . . 


41 51t 


Lansing, 

Chicago, 


+ 
+ 

37.33 




* Lapham. 


t Trembly. X Ked 


zie. 





It will be obsei"ved that the greatest extremes occurred at Chicago. 
The mean rain-fall at Milwaukee for 35 years is 30.20 inches ; at 
Toledo, for six years, is 38.94 ; at Lansing, for four years, 30.56 ; and 
at Chicago, for the last three years, is 31.94 inches. The following 
table will show the quantity of rain that fell, when the winds pre- 
vailed from the different directions : 

18 6 7. 



July, 

August, 

September 
October, . . 
November, 
December, 

Total, 

January, . 
February,. 
March, . . . 

April, 

May, 

June, 

July, 

August, . . 
September. 
October, . . 
November, 
December, 

Total, 



.409 

.844 
.112 
.015 
.195 



1.575 



s. B. 



.115 

1.760 

.411 



.341 



3.627 



028 



028 



.486 



.510 
.879 
.089 



2.739 



505 

180 



852 
271 



.182 



.182 



18 6 8. 



.115 






.215 






2.165 


.390 




1.275 


.210 




1.515 


.045 




1.216 


.878 




.388 


.975 




.168 


.350 




2.780 






.130 


.510 




1.190 


.600 




.385 


.080 




11.542 


4.038 





019 



.118 
.550 
.030 
.420 

t.585 
.011^ 
.485 
.750 

t.980 
.750 
.150 

1.830 



.549 






2.060 






1.095 






.210 


008 




.310 






1.120 






.545 




1. 


2.250 


070 




.210 


435 




.025 


0S5 




8.974 


598 


3. 



285 
680 



740 
080 



239 



8.659 



Ptiblic Parks. 



73 



INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON THE MOST COMMON 

DISEASES. 

The following tables* show the comparative mortality of certain 
diseases for the last thi-ee years ; and, although the registration 
of deaths and the nomenclature of the diseases were very imperfect 
until 1S67, when the present system of registration was inaugurated 
by the Board of Health, still they are sufficiently accurate to give a 
very good idea of the relative mortality, as influenced by climate for 
the different years. This will be better appreciated when I state, that 
in 1 866, 475 deaths were reported from unknown causes, and as near 
as I am able to ascertain, about 500 deaths occurred of which no 
record has been kept. In 1867, 134 deaths were reported from 
unknown causes, and nearly all in the first six months, and about 100 
deaths occurred of which no record has been kept. In i86S,only 28 
are reported from unknown causes, and about 24 in which no record 
could be obtained. In judging of the comparative mortality, the 
increase in population must be taken into consideration. 

Throat and Lung Diseases. 
1866. 





















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Bronchitis 


■?, 




1 


1 


1 


1 




1 




1 




1 


9 




29 


18 


12 


16 


9 


9 


15 


9 





8 


11 




149 




SI 


11 


14 


5 


(J 


4 


g 


9 


9 


13 


12 


15 


134 


Laryngitis 




























Pleurisy 


1 










1 








2 


1 


2 


7 


Pueumonia 


19 


22 


27 


25 


14 


8 


14 


15 


9 


3 


13 


13 


182 


Lungs, Congestion of 








4 


3 


3 


4 


3 


1 


1 


4 


2 


25 


Consumption 


25 


18 


34 


38 
89 


39 

72 


22 
48 


28 
67 


39 
76 


31 
56 


46 
73 


43 

84 


43 
83 


406 


Total 


107 


69 


88 


912 



1867. 



Broncliitis 




1 
8 
6 


1 
8 
5 


1 
10 

8 


3 

7 


2 

1 


3 

3 
1 


2 

4 
1 


1 
1 

5 

1 


2 
11 
10 

1 


8 
18 
9 
3 


4 
24 
11 

3 


23 
96 

77 
10 


Croup 


11 

8 


Diptitlieria 


Laryngitis 


Pleurisy 












3 

3 
2 
35 


3 


Pneumonia 


11 

2 
43 


20 

7 
44 


13 

1 

40 


22 

2 
31 


23 

3 

34 


10 
4 
34 


4 

2 

23 


8 

1 

25 


11 

1 

25 


16 

1 

34 

89 


32 

4 
37 

115 


173 
30 


Lungs, Congestion of 


Consumption 


404 




Total 


74 


86 


68 


74 


70 


46 


55 


36 


42 


61 


816 





* Valuable assistance has been rendered, in the preparation of all the tables, by J. W. Russell, 
Secretary, and H. P. Wright, Clerk of the Board of Health ; and I am indebted to Mr. J. G. Lang- 
GUTH for all meteorological observations, not otherwise credited, taken at 117 Randolph Street. 



74 



Public Parks. 



Throat and Lung Diseases. — Continued, 
1868. 



Bronchitis 

Croup 

Diphtheria 

Laryngitis 

Pleurisy 

Pneumonia 

Lungs, Congestion of. 
Consumption 



Total. 



a 




'J* 


a, 
< 


^ 
g 


1-5 






0) 
'Jl 


o 
O 


> 

o 




H 
O 


11 


12 


9 


3 


8 


3 




3 


3 


8 


6 


9 


75 


8 


12 


11 


6 


6 


8 


3 


6 


11 


18 


10 


13 


113 


21 


6 


4 


6 


4 


1 


3 


2 


13 


9 


10 


9 


87 


5 


1 


3 


3 


2 


2 




2 


2 




2 




31 


3 


3 


3 






1 


1 




1 


2 






13 


49 


58 


38 


22 


19 


27 


34 


1 


14 


18 


22 


43 


334 


9 


5 


3 


3 


3 


1 


3 


3 


5 


4 


4 


4 


47 


38 


41 


43 


30 


37 


23 


34 


43 


39 


36 


84 


22 


418 


143 


138 


101 


73 


79 


66 


67 


59 


88 


95 


88 


99 


■1096 



In the above table it will be seen that Bronchitis was more pre- 
valent in 1867 than in 1866, and that there was a large mortality in 
1 868. This difierence is owing to imperfect registration. Croup, a 
more common disease, was more frequent in 1866 than in 1867, and 
again, in 1868. Diphtheria was very prevalent in 1866, the mortality 
much less in 1867, and greater in 1868. Of Laryngitis, no deaths were 
reported in 1866, 10 in the last six months of 1867, and 23 in 1868. In 
Pleurisy, there was not much difference. The cases of Pneumonia for 
1866, I am satisfied are too low, and that not all the deaths were 
reported, as there are only three less than in 1867, when the tempera- 
ture was more equable and the extremes were not so marked as in 1S66, 
or in 1868. The mortality by this disease in 1868 was very great in 
the months of January, February, March, and December, when the 
weather was extremely cold. A diminution occurred in April and 
May, when the weather was mild, with an increase in June, when it 
was again comparatively lower. It was also in January and Feb- 
ruary that most died of Small Pox, owing to its being complicated 
with Pneumonia, which is a common occurrence in the latter stages 
of the disease. In Congestion of the Lungs, the same discrepencies 
occur, — as, for the first three months, more deaths must have taken 
place in 1866 than in 1867, owing to the changes of temperature, as 
corroborated by the observations of 1868. Consumption, the most 
common and fatal of all diseases, is probably more correctly reported 
than any other. It being a hereditary and protracted disease, the 
effect of the changes of temperature is not as marked as in the 
acute pulmonary diseases, other causes tending to its fatal termina- 
tion, such as occupation, confinement to a vitiated atmosphere, and 
depressing mental influences. It will be obsei"ved that more deatlis 



Public Parks. 



IS 



occurred in the latter part of iS66, than the first half of 1867, than 
at any other tune during the period under consideration. This 
would seem to indicate that the depressing effect incident to the 
visitation of Cholera in iS66, had some influence in increasing the 
mortality of this disease. 

Abdominal Diseases. 
1866. 





a 


3 
g 




p. 

< 




6 

« 


t-5 




.a 

a 
p. 


0) 





u 

(U 

,Q 

i 


12 
4 
5 
2 

4 


Ui 

a 



Ol 



5 
9 



















139 
15 
38 
29 
15 


166 
36 
21 
13 
14 
1 


673 
15 
21 

10 

8 


990 
















10 
21 
29 
11 


80 




1 

2 
5 

1 
1 


5 
1 

2 


3 
5 


3 
3 

8 


2 
3 

7 


3 
6 

7 


1W 




98 


Inflammation of Bowels 


95 
2 






1 












4 


1 


1 


8 




































251 


731 


— 

28 


15 




Total 


10 


8 


9 


14 


12 


16 


71 


236 


1401 



1867. 

















5 
1 
3 
11 
14 
3 


2 

45 

24 

13 

3 


2 
1 

47 
20 
9 
4 
1 
2 


1 


1 




11 












1 
7 
2 
1 


2 
1 


8 




4 


1 

1 
8 


5 
3 


2 
2 


12 
13 
13 

1 
1 
4 


4 
5 

1 

1 
4 


5 
2 

2 
1 
1 

1 


137 




79 


Inflammation of Bowels 


6 


77 
1^ 


Hepatitis 

Peritonitis 


2 


2 




1 






9 






4 


1 


16 


Total 


12 


12 


8 


5 


11 


8 


41 


88 


86 


45 


16 


12 


344 







1868. 











































7 
14 
3 
2 
1 
1 
1 

29 


7 

45 

20 

15 

3 

1 

1 

92 


12 
77 
52 
14 
5 
1 

161 


3 
65 
41 
13 
2 
4 
1 

129 


17 
16 

7 
1 

2 
43 


1 
12 
8 
4 

25 


1 
4 
2 
1 
2 
3 

13 


31 




3 

2 
8 
4 
1 
2 


1 
4 
3 
1 
1 
3 

13 


4 
2 
6 
4 
2 
2 

20 


3 
1 

6 


7 
2 
5 
4 

18 


252 




153 


Inflammation of Bov/els 


so 

27 




14 




12 




. 


Total 


569 







This table shows that nearly all the deaths by Cholera occurred in 
1866, a few in 1867, and none at all in 1868. In 1 866, it will be remem- 
bered that all the climatic influences were favorable to the spread of 



76 



Public Parks. 



diseases of this character, in addition to the fact that there was a 
decided epidemic tendency. In the last half of this year an 
extraordinary amount of rain fell, and ^ the mortality by this 
disease was greatest in the low and undrained parts of the city, fully 
sustaining Pettenkofter's theory with regard to the influence of the 
"ground water" in this disease. In July and August, 1867, there 
was a marked tendency to Cholera, but less rain fell than in 1S66, 
and every case was promptly taken care of, so that in not a single 
instance did a second case occur in the same house, even in those 
of patients who came from other cities and died. In 1868 there 
were no cases, and there was no epidemic tendency. It will be 
seen that cases of Cholera Morbus occur more frequently when great 
climatic changes occur. The same is the case with Diarrhoea, 
Dysentery, and Inflammation of the bowels. The difference in the 
number of cases of Gasti'itis, Hepatitis, and Peritonitis is simply of 
registration, for in the first period the registration in 1S66, as com- 
pared with 1868, was imperfectly performed and the diagnosis was 
not accurately determined. 

Fevers. 
1866. 





















^ 





■A 


u 






t>> 


t. 














^ 


u 


.0 


,Q 






C3 


3 


A 










m 


fcl 




a 


e 


►^ 







a> 


3 


a 
< 


>> 






< 


CO 








> 


IZi 


a) 






Intermittent Fever 


1 


1 


1 




















3 


Remittent Fever 


1 

1 

13 


2 

12 


4 
3 

13 


1 


10 


16 


17 


8 


4 


61 


Con"'estive Fever 








6 


Typhoid Fever 


27 


14 


13 


21 


18 


39 


51 
68 


22 
30 


G 
10 


249 


Total 


28 


15 


14 


15 


14 


20 


22 


28 


55 


319 









1867 


































1 .... 


1 

1 

4 

22 

28 








9, 




! 3 


2 
3 

10 

15 


3 
6 

6 

15 








1 
1 

27 

29 


1 
30 

31 


1 
15 

16 


10 


Congestive Fever 

Typhoid Fever 


1 

' 11 


20 
20 


3 

9 



12 


1 
19 

20 


11 
12 


3 

18 

21 


24 

198 


Total 


15 


234 









1868. 






















1 
1 

14 


1 

7 


1 

1 

13 










3 

1 

2 

29 


1 

33 
34 


1 

1 

2 

37 

41 


2 
3 

21 

26 


■ 

20 
20 


7 




1 
1 
8 








7 


Congestive Fever 

Typhoid Fever 


6 


9 


3 
10 


12 

207 


Total 


16 


8 


15 


10 


6 


9 


13 


35 


933 







Public Parks, 77 

This table reveals the fact that the ordinary fevers are not very- 
fatal here, and that few die of Intermittent Fever, the number being 
greatest in iS68. Remittent Fever killed more in 1866 than in either 
of the other years. Congestive Fever w^as most fatal in 1867 ; and I 
have no doubt tliat such vv^as also the case, in 1867, w^ith regard to 
Typhoid Fever, as a great many more cases occurred here during 
that year, ovv^ing to the dryness of the summer and autumn. I am 
satisfied that in 1866, a great many cases of cholera were reported 
as dying of Remittent and Typhoid Fevers, because they occasionally 
assumed a typhoid or low^ character and did not die for several days 
after the attack. Of the number reported, at least 70 are of this 
character, and it will be observed that the number of both diseases is 
much greater in the last half of the year than the first, and that there 
was suddenly a great falling off" in Typhoid Fever for December, 
which is not the case in the other years for that month. My personal 
experience confirms this position, and when the remarkably small 
quantity of rain that fell during the year 1867, and particularly in 
summer and autumn, and the prevalence of Typhoid Fever are taken 
into consideration, although the mortality was not so very great, I 
am inclined to believe that the position assumed by Buhl* is 
correct, that Typhoid Fever increases as the water gets low in the 
soil. It will, therefore, be seen that a dry summer and autumn con- 
duce to fevers, while a wet summer and autumn increase bowel 
affections. In a dry season the earth cracks in consequence of the 
evaporation of the water it contains, and with this evaporation 
are set free gases that are contained in the soil, in addition to the 
decomposition of vegetable matter, the necessary result of the atmos- 
phere and light coming in contact with it.f These conditions do 
not obtain when the ground is covered or saturated with water. 



* Zeitsclirift fiir Biologie, 1865. 

t The normal quantity of carbonic acid contained in the atmosphere is 1.4 volumes per 1000, but 
the air in the soil contains a large quantity, derived by absorption, or the action of rain, and in an 
enriched soil like ours, more largely from the decay of vegetation. It has been found to amount to 10, 
and even 20 per cent. In addition to the carbonic acid, there is also carburetted hydrogen. Cultivation 
of the soil, in the immediate vicinity of the city, would cause the consumption of these gases by vege- 
tation, and therefore, would materially assist in rendering them innoxious in dry weather, when their 
escape into the atmosphere is most marked upon health. 



78 



Public Parks. 

Infantile Diseases. 
1866. 





03 

d 

03 
1-5 


B 
u 




<1 


oa 


0) 
1-5 


t-5 




1 

ft 

CO 


u 

o 
o 
O 


S 

> 

o 


0) 

a 

o 

Ol 

p 


■< 

O 








2 

17 
1 
2 
3 

25 


23 

4 
5 

1 

33 


1 

23 

1 

7 
14 
3 

49 


4 
26 

2 
18 
11 

6 

67 


191 
59 
1 
67 
30 
15 

366 


242 
37 

47 
37 
63 

42i 


95 
22 
5 
14 
26 
40 

202 


47 
46 
3 
6 
18 
19 

139 


6 

47 
1 
1 
7 

17 


1 

36 
1 

3 

17 

58 


592 




24 


23 


380 




15 








166 


Teething 


8 
1 

33 


4 
2 

29 


1(ifi 




184 






Total 


1503 







1867. 











5 

20 

1 
6 
10 

43 


39 
1 
3 
5 
4 

58 


31 
3 
8 
4 
4 

50 


192 
36 
25 
11 
15 
6 

283 


212 

28 
29 
17 
40 
6 

332 


84 
26 
27 
10 
23 
2 

176 


41 
43 
13 

4 
14 

1 

116 


4 
27 
9 
8 
5 
3 

54 


41 
6 

24 
3 

77 


518 




38 
2 


18 
1 


43 

1 
12 

60 


389 




116 




87 


Teethin"' 


12 
1 

53 


9 

4 

38 


148 




62 






Total 


1340 



1868. 







2 
41 

9 
24 

5 

1 

82 


1 
42 

4 
21 

1 

70 


29 
5 
12 

7 
2 

55 


1 
36 
7 
5 
11 

60 


8 
43 

6 
12 

4 

6 

79 


284 
90 
19 
7 
33 
13 

446 


280 
74 
39 
2 
44 
15 

454 


143 
76 
27 
3 
46 
16 


17 
39 
14 
1 
23 
12 


2 

44 
10 
2 
6 
8 

72 


1 
40 
11 

3 

4 

7 

66 


739 




51 
7 

21 
6 
3 

88 


*in5 




158 




113 




190 




84 






Total 


311 


106 


1889 



Old Age. 





n 

o3 
1-5 

11 

6 
4 

21 


9 
1 
19 


5 

8 
8 

21 


p. 
< 

9 
5 

7 


6 
6 
3 

15 


a 

12 
9 
3 

24 


"3 

13 
3 
8 

24 


< 

15 

4 

6 

25 


p. 

13 
3 

8 

24 


O 
13 
4 
11 

28 


o 

12 
5 
10 

27 


P 

15 

5 

5 

25 


O 


1866 

1867 


133 
67 


1868 


74 







Total 


274 







Extremes of heat and cold are necessarily destructive to infantile 
life and old age. Of all diseases to which children are subject, none 
is so fatal as Cholera Infantum. The number reported for i866 is 
evidently below what it should be, while the nomenclature and 
reporting for 1867 are more accurate. The intensely hot weather, 



Public Parks. 79 

together with the rain, caused the fearful mortality of 1868, mostly in 
the undrained wai'ds of the city. The mortality by Convulsions may 
be regarded as a sure index of the influence of climate on children. 
The epidemic tendency of 1866 is also shown, with the influence of 
extreme cold in increasing mortality, compared with the other years. 
Marasmus was imperfectly reported in 1866. The mortality by 
teething will give a better idea of climatic influences, and the same 
may be said with regard to Whooping Cough. The infantile 
mortality during the intensely hot weather of July, August, and 
September, was very great. 

It will also be seen that the aged suffered severely in 1866, but 
the greater number of deaths reported in the first six months of 1867 
as compared with the last, incline me to the opinion that the great 
difference in the two years is owing partially to the naming of the 
diseases, and the absence of any epidemic tendency in 1868, and 
also the fact that the aged can protect themselves better from the 
effect of cold than children. 

From the foregoing, it must not be inferred that the general 
health of Chicago is bad, but, on the contrary, it compares favor- 
ably with any large city in the country ; and I think it is not 
presuming too much to say that the climate of Chicago may be 
materially modified, and rendered more equable,* by the proper 
location of parks, and the planting of trees,! thereby diminishing 
the mortality of preventable diseases, and improving the general 
health. % 

* The following facts illustrate the influence of equable temperature upon the mortality by pul- 
monary diseases ; i86S, January, highest temperature 41, lowest 4, range 45, and mean temperature 
20.3, deaths 145 ; 1869, January, highest temperature 51, lowest 17, raiige 34, and mean temperature 
34.3, deaths 104 ; 1S6S, February, highest temperature 56, lowest -9, range 65, mean, 27.6, deaths 138 ; 
1869, February, highest temperature 65, lowest 5, range 60, mean, 31.7, deaths 100. 

t The environs of Chicago are for the most part destitute of trees, and when we consider the 
important part which they play in the economy of nature, it will appear obvious to every one that tree- 
planting would not only break the force of the wind, supply warmth in winter, and coolness in summer, 
and thus moderate the extremes of temperature, but at the same time absorb to a considerable extent, 
the noxious gases which are generated in every populous city, — supplying oxygen, and thus contributing 
to the public health. Trees should be planted in every street in the city, and on all the highways lead- 
ing out of it, especially those running north and south; and should they at any time become too thick, 
they can easily be thinned out. What a blessing it would be, and at the same time what an ornament, 
if the right of way to every railroad leading out of Chicago, was devoted to tree-culture ! In winter they 
would serve as barriers against the drifting snows, diminish the amount of fuel necessary to propel the 
trains, and in summer they would afford a grateful shade. So intimately are trees associated with man, 
and so much do they contribute to his happiness and comfort, that their culture should everywhere be 
encouraged. " Persons are sometimes prevented from planting trees, on account of the slowness of their 
growth. What a mistake this is ! It is a strange feeling to feel — -a strange complaint to utter — that any 
one thing in this world, animate or inanimate, is of too slow growth, for the nearer to its perfection, the 
nearer to its decay." " Let each young man plant trees that he may have something ever near to bring 
back pleasing recollections of his youth, — something, when he is an old man, that will seem of his own 
age, and sympathise with him, and look on him with a familiar face, that he may not feel quite alone 
among a new generation. Let the old man plant trees, they will keep him alive in the minds of men, 
the memory of one who lived not for himself." 

t The location of Lincoln Park is all that could be desired, serving to protect the city from the 
north-east wind in spring. A park in the north-westeni part of the city is needed, extending from 
Chicago Avenue north, as a protection from the bleak north-west winds in winter and spring ; and, also, 



8o Public Parks. 

INFLUENCE OF PARKS ON THE MIND. 

We have thus far been considering the influence of parks and 
trees on the physical development ; we now propose to call attention 
to their influence on the mental condition. In fact, such is the 
intimate connection between the two, that they cannot well be sepa- 
rated, as a sound and vigorous mind is generally dependent upon a 
healthy condition of the bodily organs, and without either, the object 
of life is but imperfectly attained. Juvenal, long ago, declared 
that, '•'•Sana mens hi sano corpore" — a sound mind in a sound 
body — should be the aspiration of every one. "Health of mind, as 
well as of body, is not only productive in itself of a greater sum of 
enjoyment than arises from other sources, but is the only condition 
of our frame in which we are capable of receiving pleasure from 
without."* In order, therefore, to preserve the mind from impair- 
ment of its energies and the derangement of its functions, physical 
exercise, as well as relaxation and recreation is necessary. 

We live in an atmosphere of excitement, more so, perhaps, than 
any other community in the world, and it is therefore more neces- 
sary that all prudent safeguards should be thrown around us to 
prevent the impairment of the vigor of the mind and the inroads of 
disease. 

We have neither leisure nor inclination to bestow many thoughts 
upon schemes much beyond the circle of our ordinary pursuits, 
and our happiness consists chiefly in the accumulation of wealth, 
and the accomplishment of something that is bold and novel. The 
sources of gratification are too few to furnish much relief to the 
excitement of our daily life, and our social intercourse is limited to 
the same necessities. 

This is an age of great mental activity, and nowhere is the mind 
more stimulated than in Chicago. While it is true that the judicious 



one in the south-western part of the city, extending from i6th or 22d Street to or beyond the city limits 
south, to moderate, so far as relates to the south-west winds, the extremes of heat and cold, in winter 
and summer, and to absorb the miasmatic exhalations of Mud Lake and the country adjoining the 
Illinois and Michigan Canal. A park should also be located south-east of the city, to protect it against 
the exhalations of the Calumet swamps, and the depressing effect of th(i wind from that direction. A 
careful examination of the topography of the localities indicated, will reveal tlie fact, in addition to the 
other reasons named, that the ground is low, and the surface drainage is bad, and that the location of 
the parks will obviate this objection, while, at the same time, the lands will cost less than if taken at 
other places, and that thev will be more acceptable to all, than if differently placed. In other words, 
for sanitary and economical considerations, and for purposes of convenience, they are best. There is no 
city in the world, with the same population, where the immediate surroundings are so illy improved, as 
Chicago. The location of the parks in these directions would stimulate the improvement and culti- 
vation of the soil, which fact, alone, would act beneficently in a sanitary point of view, but it would 
also create a demand for the manure and offal of the city, and thus indirectly assist in improving the 
public health, by the removal of offensive materials, while the cost to citizens and the city would be less 
than it now is. 

* Sir James Mackintosh. 



Public Parks. 8i 

use of an organ, increases its power and confirms its health ; but 
excessive exercise which requires an undue share of vital energy, 
leads to an unhealthy condition. 

" Much of the mental activity that characterizes our people," 
says a distinguislied writer, "arises from the abundant opportunities 
that are offered for the pursuit of wealth, and the consequent variety 
and novelty of the enterprises undertaken for this purpose. All are 
hoping and striving to make or greatly to advance their fortunes, by 
some happy stroke of skill, some nicely balanced combination of 
chances, or some daring speculation. The result, all can see and 
admire, but few know anything of the wear and tear of mind by 
which it was achieved. Indeed, our ways of doing business, our 
notions of property, our ideas of happiness, all indicate, as strongly 
as traits of character can, that a large portion of our fellow citizens 
habitually live and move and have their being under an extraor- 
dinary pressure of excitement that brooks neither failure or delay. 
If unsuccessful in one attempt, our inexhaustible resources furnish 
the means and opportunities of trying another, while misfortune and 
disappointment stimulate rather than depress the mental energies."* 

With how much truth and force can these remarks be applied 
to the inhabitants of our city, and their force is but too apparent in 
the rapid consumption of the mental powers, and the tendency to 
diseases of this character, f 

This is not alone the result of diseases of the mind, but of others, 
particularly consumption, as will be seen by an examination of a 
table found elsewhere, where the deaths of males during the specu- 
lative excitement of 1856, and the consequent financial I'evulsion of 
1S57 ^"^^^ 1S58, greatly exceed those of females, and, also, in the first 
years of the war of the Rebellion : and, no doubt, such was also the 
result of the depressing effect of the cholera on the mind, in 
increasing the mortality by this disease, during the last half of 1866 
and the first half of 1867. 

* Ray, Mental Hygiene. 

t Owing to the different spheres in which the two sexes move, the effects of an undue exercise of 
the mental powers are more apparent in the male sex, as is evidenced by the following statement : 
Since July ist, 1851, 179 males, and 77 females, have died of apoplexy; 363 males, and 269 females, of 
dropsy of the brain ; 1,613 males, and 1,308 females, of convulsions (nothing unusual in this difference 
of the sexes, as more males are born, and there is a greater mortality among males in infancy) ; epilepsy, 
29 males, and 16 females ; palsv, 93 males, and 58 females. In apoplexy, epilepsy, and palsy, a better 
idea may be formed of the effect of the great mental activity that characterizes our people, although 
there is no doubt that we have an excess of males in this city. My confidence in the statistics, I must 
confess, is not what it should be, as, during the period in which they were reported, no less than 3,766 
deaths are ascribed to unknown causes. This will, however, be better appreciated by the statistics of 
those who have died of old age during the same period. Of these there were, males, 359, and females, 
398. Tlie mortality should be about the same, owing to the fact that we have always had a larger male 
population than female, giving due credit for the greater female longevity. 



S: 



Public Parks. 



We do not seem to appreciate that the highest degree of health 
is necessary to insure the most complete success, nor the importance 
of the maxim '-'■Fcstina lenteT We need not be in such haste. Our 
climatic, independent of our geographical, position gives us vast 
advantages over our rivals, and it is a well established fact in 
European civilization, that climate has exercised the greatest influ- 
ence on the physical and intellectual development of man.* We, 
perhaps more than any other community, need all the possible safe- 
guards against over-work to be thrown around us, and I know 
of no better way than by the creation of parks, that will be an 
ornament to the city, and places of resort, where all may enjoy 
themselves in a rational and healthful manner. We need parks to 
induce out-door exercise, and for the pleasant influences connected 
with them, which are so beneficial to our over-worked business men, 
to dyspeptics, to those afi^icted with nervous diseases, and, partic- 
ularly, to the consumptive.! 

* Buckle's History of Civilization. 

t Contrary to the received opinion, I find, upon careful investigation, that the mortality by Con- 
sumption is not as great here as in nearly all the other large cities of the United States. It has been 
estimated that about one-sixth of all the deaths among the human race occurs from this disease, and 
that of 2,771,72s deaths from all diseases, between 1S04 and 1S60, 483,728 deaths, or i in 57, were caused 
by Consumption. [Dr. H. B. Millard.] In Boston the mortality is great, and not much change in the 
rate has taken place, while in New York the deaths have steadily diminished. Females are more liable 
than males, no doubt owing to their leading more sedentary lives. It has been found that the disease 
is less apt to be developed iu rural districts, and that the liability to it is increased by want of exercise 
and confined air. The important part that parks exercise over this disease will, therefore, be appre- 
ciated, in the inducements they offer to exercise in the open air. The following table will show the 
mortality of Chicago, and other cities. 

DEATHS BY CONSUMPTION FROM JULY ist, 1S51, TO JANUARY ist, 1S69. 















Kxcess 




Males. 


Females. 


Total. 


Population. 


One 
Death in 

484 


of Males 

over 
Females. 


Six Months, 1851 


23 


18 


41 


39,685 


5 


Year of 18V2 


63 


49 


112 


49,407 


441 


14 


'' " ]853 


103 
104 


64 
91 


167 
195 


59,130 
69,565 


354 
357 


39 


" '• 1854 


13 


" " 1855 


91 


63 


1,54 


80,000 


519 


23 


" " 1856 


174 


112 


286 


84,113 


294 


62 


" " IS.iT 


145 
1".)6 


108 
133 


253 
329 


93.113 
9(5,363 


364 
293 


37 


" " 1858 


63 


" " IS.i!) 


127 
144 


120 
128 


247 
372 


101,780 
109,260 


412 
402 


7 


" " 1860 


16 


" " 1861 


196 

203 


120 
146 


316 
349 


123, f. 23 
138,186 


391 
396 


76 


" " 1862 


57 


" " 1863 


136 


131 


267 


153,769 


576 


5 


" " 1864 


216 


195 


411 


169,353 


412 


21 


" " 1865 


189 


147 


336 


178,492 


531 


42 


" " 1866 


336 


180 


406 


200,418 


493 


46 


•• " 1867 


223 


181 


404 


225.326 


557 


42 


" " 1868 


238 


180 


418 


252,054 


603 


58 




2,797 


2,166 


4.963 






631 











A verage Excess of Males over Females. 



First nine years . 
Last " " 



.30 per annum. 
.40 " 



Public Parks. 83 

We need parks for our school children, as we have no places 
to which they can resort for out-of-door play, and whei'e they can 
obtain healthful recreation, with the exception of the limited grounds 
surrounding the school houses. They can also be made use of as 
the means of instruction, by the arboi'etum, botanical collections and 
the collections of animals that are found in them. 

The moral influence of parks is decided. Man is brought in 
contact with nature, — is taken away from the artificial conditions in 
which he lives in cities ; and such associations exercise a vast influence 
for good. In the Central Park," only 56S arrests have been made, 
and these of a trivial character, out of 30,731,847 visitors. '•'•The 
■people of Baltimore have been their oivn conservators of the 
-parks. They appreciate and enjoy them^ a?id they preserve them. 
The appeal 7nade to the?n by the coininission in the frst year of 
the parks, has been 7nost fully and ho7iorably responded to." * We 
have no places of resort on holidays. By creating them, we take 
many away from other and worse places, and thus do much toward 
encouraging the young in habits of sobriety and temperance. They 
also afford a field for the exercise of those robust games which tend 
so much to the development of the physical system. 

From the preceding observations, particularly on the local 
topography and character of the diseases, there ought to be little 
doubt as to the proper positions in which parks should be located, in 
order to make them alike convenient to the city, and promotive of 
the public health. 

Thei'e is upon this question a community of interest between 
the different sections of the city, which ought to override all consid- 
erations of a local nature, and lead to harmonious action. All 
should cooperate to give each section the full benefits of such public 
resorts, bearing in mind, that while one portion of the city may be 
locally favored, the entire population share in the advantages. While 
one portion of the city may be peculiarly exposed to malaria, the 

A veragc Excess of Males over Fetnales, compared with Population. 

First nine years i in 2489 of Population. 

Last " " I in 4291 " " 

A verage Proportion of Deaths by Consujiiption. 

First nine years i in 367 of deatlis from all causes. 

Last " " I in 484 " " " " 

Philadelphia, 1862, i in 7 7-9, or 13 per cent.; 1863, i in 7 2-3 or 13 per cent. ; 1864, i in 7 5-8, 
or 13 per cent. : 1867, i in 61-2, or 15 1-2 per cent. New Orleans, 1867, i in 15, or 66-10 per cent. 
St. Louis, Mo., 1868, I in 10 1-3, or g 7-10 per cent. Providence, R. L, 1866, i in 5 1-7, or 19 4-10 
per cent. Chicago, 1868, i in 14 1-3, or 7 per cent. New York, 1867, 12 percent. 
* Ninth Annual Report Park Commission. 



84 Public Parks. 

subtle and Invisible influence may be wafted to the remotest parts, 
abated in virulence, but still pestiferous. 

In this connection, w^e may use the language of Lucretius, in 
reference to the plague : 

" When first the air, surcharged with poisonous power, 
Moves far remote, we deem it but a mist, 
Or floating cloud ; but having readied our midst, 
Distils throughout its course a fatal dew 
Which blights and kills." 

During the past season, in July, the south-east wind blew for 
several days, carrying with it the exhalations of the Calumet swamps 
and diffusing them over the entire city, causing a marked mortality 
in the Twelfth ward. The south-west wind is the prevailing one, as 
we have seen, during the summer and autumn months, and the 
mortality, for the past year, was greater in the Thirteenth ward 
than in the Fifth, where, so far as relates to drainage, cleanliness, 
comforts of living, &c., the conditions are far inferior. 

Regarding, then, this question in a comprehensive view, it maybe 
affirmed that the benefits to be derived from the location of parks 
are not of a local, but general character, and such as should enlist, 
in their establishment, the efforts of every citizen who has the 
welfare of the city at heart. 



Park Acts. 



NORTH CHICAGO. 

An Act to Fix the Boundaries of Lincoln Park in the City of 
Chicago, and Provide for its Improvement. 

Section i . Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, repre- 
sented in the General Assembly: Thai all of the land situate and lying 
within the following boundaries, to-wit : Commencing at the intersection of 
North avenue in the city of Chicago and county of Cook with Lake 
Michigan, and running thence west along said North avenue to North Clark 
street; thence along North Clark street to North Franklin street; thence 
along North Franklin street to Fullerton avenue ; thence along Fullerton 
avenue to the west line of the southeast quarter of section 28 in township 
40, north of range 14 east of the third principal meridian ; thence along said 
west line to the northwest corner of said southeast quarter of section 28; 
thence along the north line of said southeast quarter to Lake Michigan; and 
thence along the shore of Lake Michigan at low water mark, as the same 
now is or hereafter may be, to the place of beginning — be, and the same is 
hereby, declared to be a public park, to be known as Lincoln Park, and shall 
be deemed to have been taken by the city of Chicago for public use and for 
a public park. 

Sec. 2. All of said land now belonging to the city of Chicago shall be 
and is hereby appropriated for such park without anj' compensation to the 
city, and the title of any of said land not now owned by the city may be 
acquired by said city by purchase or condemnation as herein provided. The 
Board of Commissioners of Lincoln Park, as hereinafter created, may 
purchase any of said lands at fair and reasonable prices, to be determined 
by them and paid for out of bonds or money coming to their hands for the 
purpose of acquiring the title thereto, and the same shall be conveyed to and 
vest in the city, to be used as a part of the park, or the same may be acquired 
in the manner hereinafter set forth. 

Sec. 3. Three discreet and competent freeholders, citizens of Chicago, 
shall be appointed by the circuit court of Cook county, within three 
months after the passage of this act, and on application of the Board of 
Commissioners of said park, to act as appraisers in relation to the taking 
and the value of said lands mentioned in the first section of this act or any 
part thereof, and in case of the death, resignation, disqualification or refusal 
to act of eithei of said appraisers, it shall be lawful for the said circuit 
court, at any general or special term thereof, on application of said Board 



ii Appendix. 

of Commissioners, and from time to time, as often as said event shall 
happen, to appoint any other discreet or disinterested person, being a citizen 
of the city of Chicago, in the place of said appraisers so dying, resigning or 
refusing to act, and said appraisers shall proceed to discharge the duties of 
their appointment, and to complete their estimate and awards, as soon as 
conveniently may be, and shall file their final report in the office of the 
clerk of the circuit court of Cook county within three months of the date 
of their appointment. 

Sec. 4. It shall be competent and lawful for a majority of of said Board 
of Appraisers, designated as aforesaid, to perform the trust and duties of 
their appointment; and their acts shall be as valid and effectual as the acts 
of all the appraisers so to be appointed, if they had acted therein, would 
have been. And in every case the proceedings and decisions of a majority 
in number of said Board of Appraisers, acting in the premises shall be as 
valid and effectual as if the said appraisers appointed for such purposes had 
all concurred and joined therein. 

Sec. 5. The appraisers herein provided for in relation to the taking and 
the value of any of the lands mentioned in the first section of this act, shall 
make just and true estimate of the value of such lands and of the loss and 
damage to the respective owners, lessees and parties and persons respectively 
entitled to or interested in the same, together with the tenements, heredita- 
ments and appurtenances, privileges or advantages to the same belonging or 
in any wise appertaining, by and in consequence of the relinquishing the 
same to the said city of Chicago ; and in making said estimate they shall not 
make any deduction or allowance for any supposed advantages to be derived 
from taking said lands as public places or in consequence thereof; and the 
amounts so estimated, when duly confirmed, shall be paid as hereinafter in 
this act provided. Whenever such estimate shall be completed, they shall 
file the same with the clerk of the circuit court of Cook county, and there- 
upon proceedings may be had to correct or confirm the same as in this act 
provided. 

Sec. 6. Said appraisers and any party being the owner of, or interested 
in, any of the lands mentioned in this act, may agree upon the value thereof 
and upon the amount of damages and compensation to be awarded therefor, 
and said appraisers may make special reports in relation to any matter so 
agreed upon, and any such special report may be filed and proceedings may 
be had to confirm the same, and the same may be confirmed in the same 
manner and with like effect, as is provided herein with relation to other 
reports of said appraisers; and upon the confirmation of any such special 
report, the amount of the awards thus confirmed shall be paid in the same 
manner as if such awards had been made in a general report of said apprais- 
ers and duly confirmed. 

Sec. 7. Before proceeding to discharge any of their duties the appraisers 
shall respectively take and subscribe an oath in writing before some officer 
authorized by law to administer oaths, honestly and faithfully to discharge 
the duties which may devolve upon them, in pursuance of this act, which 
oath shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county court of the 



Appendix. iii 

county of Cook. Said appraisers shall proceed as soon as may be after their 
appointment to discharge the duties of their trust, and to make and com- 
plete their estimates and awards, and reports, as hereinafter provided, 'and 
every estimate, award and report so made, shall be signed by at least a ma- 
jority of said appraisers, and filed in the office of the circuit court of the 
county of Cook, and notice thereof given to the counsel for the corporation 
of the said city of Chicago, within ten days after receiving such notice of the 
filing of any report of such Board of Appraisers, said Corporation Counsel 
shall give notice by publication for ten days, in at least two daily papers of 
the said city of Chicago, that he will, at a term of said circuit court desig- 
nated therein, and at the time and place to be designated, in said notice, 
present said report for confirmation. And if said Corporation Counsel shall 
not, within the time prescribed, cause such notice to be given, and the report 
to be presented for confirmation, then such notice may be given, and said 
report may be presented for confirmation, as above described, by said apprais- 
ers, or by any party whose lands are to be taken, and to whom compensation 
is estimated and awarded by such report. It shall be the duty of said court, 
at the time mentioned in said notice, to proceed immediately to the hearing 
of said report, and it shall have priority over all other causes pending in said 
court. The said court shall pronounce judgment on said report, and shall 
confirm the same against the several lots or parcels of land described in said 
report in respect to which no objections shall be filed, and such judgment 
shall be a lawful and sufficient condemnation of the lands and property 
appropriated and sought to be condemned and not objected to ; and the court 
shall hear and determine all objections in a summarj' way, without pleadings, 
and shall and may, on such hearing, when objections have been interposed, 
render such judgment as shall seem proper, modifying and changing such 
assessment as it shall deem proper, and any appeal therefrom shall not inval- 
idate or aftect said judgment, or delay the same except as to the property 
described in said appeal. Such judgment, as far as not appealed from, shall 
be a lawful and sufficient condemnation of the lands and property appropri- 
ated, and any appeal shall not delay the proceedings under said judgment, 
except as to the property described in said appeal. 

Sec. 8. Payment of the damages awarded in and by the I'udgments 
entered as aforesaid shall be made immediately, and the Board of Park Com- 
missioners, as hereinafter appointed, may either pay such damage to the 
person appearing to be entitled to the same, or bring into the said circuit 
court and deposit with the clerk thereof the amount of such damage, speci- 
fying at the time of each deposit, in a written report, to be made to said 
court, the several pieces of land condemned, and which are paid for by said 
deposit, and upon payment being made as aforesaid, the said lands shall vest 
forever in the said city of Chicago for the purposes and uses in this act 
mentioned. 

Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of any person or persons owning cemetery 
lots included within the lands in the first section of this act described and to 
be condemned by said commissioners, to remove any bodies that may be 
therein interred, within six months of the confirmation of so much of the 



iv Appendix. 

report of said commissioners as relates to said lots; and if said removal 
shall not be made within six months, the Board of Park Commissioners 
may, at any time thereafter, make such removal. 

Sec. io. The appraisers shall also, as a part of Lincoln Park, lay out a 
drive two hundred feet wide (so the east line shall be the waters of Lake 
Michigan), from Pine street to the south line of said park, and shall proceed 
to make an assessment for the payment of the land taken for the same, 
according to the provisions of the charter of the city of Chicago, in staking 
lands for the opening of a street, and shall file their report with the clerk of 
the circuit court, when the same proceedings shall be had as provided in 
this act in regard to the lands to be taken for the park. The said circuit 
court may render judgment against the lands and lots assessed for the seve- 
ral amounts assessed for benefits remaining unpaid, and the collection thereof 
shall be made and enforced, as is the case for the collection for taxes, and the 
money so collected shall be paid to the Park Commissioners, and by them 
paid to the several persons entitled to damages for lands taken for such drive. 

Sec. II. Such drive, when thus laid out, shall be a part of said Lincoln 
Park, and shall be under the control and management of the Board of Com- 
missioners to the same extent as herein provided in reference to said park, 
and it shall be improved by the same means. 

Sec. 12. For the purpose of paying for the land taken for such park, 
under the provisions of this act, the bonds of the city of Chicago, to such an 
amount as shall be necessary for that purpose, shall be issued by the Mayor, 
Comptroller and Clerk of said city, from time to time, as the same shall be 
required by the Board of Park Commissioners for the purpose aforesaid, and 
shall be delivered to said board upon demand, and said bonds shall be paya- 
ble twenty years from the date thereof, and shall bear interest at the rate of 
seven per cent, per annum, payable half yearly on the first days of January 
and July, in each year; and the said bonds, and the proceeds of the sale 
thereof, shall constitute the fund for paying the cost of the lands taken for 
the park. 

Sec. 13. As said bonds shall from time to time issue, the comptroller 
shall cause to be kept in his office, in a book to be provided for that purpose, 
a true and correct statement and account of each and every bond by him 
executed, showing the number of each bond, and the date and amonnt thereof, 
and the time when due (and said books shall be open for public inspection), 
and which books shall be delivered by him to his successor in office. The 
comptroller shall take a receipt from the person authorized by said board to 
receive said bonds. 

Sec. 14. The bonds of the city of Chicago, which shall be issued by 
virtue of this act,- may be used by said Board of Commissioners at their par 
value, by paying any amount which said city shall have become liable to pay 
for such lands purchased or condemned under this act, or the same may be 
sold at public or private sale, or subscription, upon such terms as said com- 
missioners shall determine; and the said Board of Park Commissioners may 
pledge any of said bonds for money borrowed temporarily, at an ordinary 
rate of interest, not exceeding 10 per cent, per annum, if they shall deem it 
necessary and expedient so to do. 



Appendix. V 

Sec. 15. The Board of Park Commissioners shall cause a full description 
of the bonds received from the city, to be entered in a record, to be provided 
for that purpose, which shall show the date, number and amount of each 
bond, the time when received, the time when and to whom sold, and the 
amount received therefor, and shall, on or before the ist day of April in each 
year, furnish a copy thereof, verified by the oath of the custodian of such 
records, to the city comptroller. 

Sec. 16. The property of the city of Chicago, and the lands authorized 
to be taken by this act for a public park, are hereby pledged for the payment 
of the principal and interest of said bonds. 

Sec. 17. The Board of Park Commissioners hereinafter mentioned, is 
hereby authorized, and it shall be their duty, on or before the first day of 
October in each year, to fix upon the amount, not exceeding $75,000, that 
may be necessary to be expended for the improvement and repair of said 
park and drive during the next succeeding year, and certify the same to the 
clerk of the county court of Cook county, and said clerk shall apportion 
said amount upon the taxable property returned by the Assessors of North 
Chicago and Lake View, and compute the same as part of the taxes due and 
payable b}' the owners of said property set down or described in a separate 
column headed "Lincoln Park Tax," and the same shall be included in the 
warrant issued for the collection of taxes, and collected as other taxes. In 
case of a failure to pay the same, judgment may be rendered against the 
real estate assessed, and the like proceedings had as for other taxes. The 
taxes so collected shall be paid to the park commissioners, and used by them 
in improving and keeping in repair the park and drive. 

Sec. 18. The appraisers appointed by virtue of this act, shall have 
authority to employ surveyors, and to use any map or file belonging to said 
city or to said county of Cook, and to cause maps to be made as may be 
necessary, and said appraisers shall be allowed a compensation of five dol- 
lars per day for their time actually employed in discharging their duty as 
such appraisers, and all such compensation and the necessary expenses in 
discharging their duties, shall be allowed and taxed by the court aforesaid, 
and paid by said city of Chicago, and shall be added to and become a part of 
the cost of said park. 

Sec. 19. The said Lincoln Park shall be under the exclusive control of 
a Board of Commissioners to consist of five persons, who shall be named 
and styled the Commissioners of Lincoln Park. A majority of said commis- 
sioners (in office for the time being), shall constitute a quorum for the trans- 
action of business ; but no action of said board shall be final or binding 
until it shall receive the approval of a majority of said board, whose names 
shall be recorded in its minutes. 

Sec. 20. E. B. McCagg, John B. Turner, Andrew Nelson, Joseph Stock- 
ton and Jacob Rehm, are hereby appointed and shall constitute the first 
Board of Commissioners of Lincoln Park They shall hold oftice as such 
commissioners for five years. No member of such board shall receive any 
compensation for his services. In case of a vacancy within said five years, 
the same may be filled by the remaining members of said board, and all 



vi Appendix. 

vacancies occasioned by the expiration of the term of office, shall be filled by 
the judge of the circuit court of Cook county. 

Sec. 21. The said board shall have full and exclusive power to govern, 
manage and direct the said park: to lay out and regulate the same; to pass 
ordinances for the regulation and government thereof; to appoint such 
engineers, surveyors and other officers, except a police force, as may be 
necessary ; to prescribe and define their respective duties and authority ; to fix 
the amount of their compensation, and to require bonds for the faithful per- 
formance of their duties ; and generally, in regard to said park, shall possess 
all the power and authority now by law conferred on or possessed by the 
common council of said city in respect to public squares and places in said 
city. They may vacate any public street or alley within the limits of said 
park, and shall lay out a street not exceeding one hundred feet, and not less 
than eighty feet in width, north from Fullerton avenue, along the west line 
of said park to the northern boundary thereof, and may exercise the same 
power and control over such street as the rest of the park. 

Sec. 22. It shall be a misdemeanor for any commissioner to be directly 
or indirectly in any way pecuniarily interested in any contract, or work of any 
kind whatever, connected with said park; and it shall be the duty of any 
commissioner, or other person who may have any knowledge or information 
of the violation of this provision, forthwith to report the same to the mayor 
of the city of Chicago, who shall present the facts of the case to the judge of 
the circuit court of Cook county. Such judge shall hear in a summary 
.manner such commissioner in relation thereto, and if after such hearing he 
shall be satisfied of the truth thereof, he shall immediately remove the 
commissioner thus ofl:ending, subject to a fine and imprisonment. Every 
commissioner shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and 
subscribe an oath faithfully to perform the duties of his office, which oath 
shall be filed in the office of the said clerk of the circuit court of the county 
of Cook, and shall each give a bond in the penal sum of fifty thousand 
dollars for the faithful performance of his duty, and payable to the city of 
Chicago. 

Sec. 23. Said Board of Commissioners for the government of said park 
shall, in the month of April of each year, make to the common council of 
said city, a full report of their proceedings and a detailed statement of all 
their receipts and expenses, under oath. It shall be the duty of said com- 
missioners to let all amounts exceeding in amount twenty-five hundred 
dollars, by contract, in the manner provided in the charter of the city of 
Chicago for letting the contracts for public improvements. 

Sec. 24. It shall be lawful for the commissioners of said park to let, 
from year to year, any building, and the grounds attached thereto, belonging 
to said city, which may be within the limits of said city, until the same shall 
be required for the laying out and regulation thereof, when the said buildings 
shall be removed, except such as may be used for the purposes of such park. 
The said commissioners may sell any building or other material, being 
within the limits of said park and belonging to said city, which, in their 
judgment, shall not be required for the purposes of said park, or for public 



Appendix. vii 

use, and the proceeds of which shall be deposited to the credit of said com- 
missioners, and devoted to the improvement of the park. 

Sec. 25. None of the said commissioners, nor any persons, whether in 
the employ of the said commissioners or otherwise, shall have the power to 
create any debt, obligation, claim or liability for or on account of said board, 
or the monies or properties under his control, except with the express 
authority of said board, conferred at a meeting thereof duly convened and 
held. 

Sec. 26. The office of either the said commissioners who shall not 
attend the meetings of said board for three successive months, after having 
been duly notified of said meetings, without reason therefor satisfactory to 
the said board, or without leave of absence from said board, may be by said 
board declared vacant. 

Sec. 27. It shall be lawful for the said Board of Commissioners at any 
meeting thereof, duly convened, to pass such ordinances as they may deem 
necessary for the regulation, use, and government of the park under their 
charge, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. Such ordinances 
shall immediately, upon their passage, be published for ten days, in two daily 
papers in said city. 

Sec. 28. The persons ofliending against said ordinances shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished, on conviction, before any 
court of competent jurisdiction in the county of Cook, by a fine not 
exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment, or both, in the discre- 
tion of the court. 

Sec. 29. Real and personal property may be granted, bequeathed or 
conveyed to said city of Chicago, for the purpose of the improvement or 
ornamentation of said park, or for the establishment or maintenance, within 
the limits of said park, of museums, zoological, or other gardens, collections 
of natural history or works of art, upon such trusts and conditions as may 
be prescribed by the grantors and donors thereof, and agreed to by said 
Board of Park Commissioners; and all property so devised, granted, 
bequeathed or conveyed, and the rents, issues, profit and income thereof, 
shall be subject to the exclusive management, direction and control of the 
commissioners of the park. 

Sec. 30. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. 

Approved Feb. 8, 1869. 



SOUTH CHICAGO. 

Act to Provide for the Location and Maintenance of a Park for 
THE Towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake. 

Section i. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represeftted in the General Assembly : That five persons, who shall be 
appointed by the Governor of the State of Illinois, together with their 
successors, be, and they are hereby constituted a Board of Public Park 
Commissioners, for the towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park, and Lake, to 



viii Appendix. 

be known under the name of The South Park Commissioners ; and in case 
of the faikire of any of said persons to accept such appointment, and to 
qualify thereunder as hereinafter provided, within sixty days after the 
passage of this act, the place of such person in said commission shall be 
thereby vacated, and it shall be the duty of a majority of the commissioners 
so accepting, to appoint some suitable person to fill the place thus made 
vacant, which appointment, when accepted by such nominee, shall consti- 
tute such person a commissioner under this act. And a majority of said 
commissioners shall so continue to nominate until the board shall consist 
of five persons. Each of said commissioners, before entering upon the 
duties of his office, shall take an oath to well and properly discharge the 
duties of his office for the interests of the public, which oaths shall be 
reduced to writing, subscribed to by him, and filed in the office of the 
county clerk of Cook county. They shall each give a bond in the penal 
sum of fifty thousand dollars, with one or more sureties, to be approved of 
by the judge of the circuit court of Cook county, to the treasurer of Cook 
county, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties under this act. 

Sec. 2. As soon as convenient after the said board shall be constituted 
as aforesaid, the members thereof shall decide by lot, at a meeting to be 
called by any three of them, as to the respective term for which each 
member shall hold his office ; the number of lots shall equal the number 
of commissioners, and the person drawing the longest term shall serve for 
five years from the first day of March, A. D. 1S69; the one drawing the 
next, shall serve for four years from said date ; the one drawing the next, 
shall serve for three years from said date ; and so on until the term of each 
one of said commissioners shall be definitely determined, each one serving 
for the length of time inscribed on the lot drawn by him — the last of said 
commissioners serving for the term of one year only from said first day of 
March, A. D. 1869. As soon as the term of office of each of said commis- 
sioners shall be determined as aforesaid, said board shall organize by 
electing one of their number as president, and one of their number as 
auditor; they shall also appoint a treasurer, prescribe his duties, and fix 
his compensation, who shall give bond for the faithful discharge of his 
duties in the penal sum of five hundred thousand dollars, with not less than 
three sufficient sureties, to be approved by the judge of the circuit court of 
Cook county. They shall also choose a secretary, who shall not necessarily 
be a commissioner, and who shall hold his office until his successor shall 
be appointed as hereinafter provided ; and all officers appointed by the 
board shall be subject to removal at the pleasure of the board. The said 
board shall adopt a seal, and alter the same at pleasure; they shall keep a 
complete record of all their proceedings, which shall be open at all times for 
the inspection of the public. The said commissioners shall receive no 
compensation for their services, except the president, who may, in the 
discretion of said board, have and receive such compensation as may be 
fixed as hereinafter provided, not to exceed three thousand dollars per 
annum. All vacancies occurring in said board shall be filled by the 
appointment of the judge of the circuit court of Cook county, when such 



. ■ Appendix ix 

vacancy or vacancies shall occur. Said board of commissioners shall be 
a body politic and corporate, and shall have and enjoy all the powers 
necessary for the purposes of this act. 

Sec. 3. The president, auditor, treasui-er, and secretary, shall be elected 
annually by said board, at the annual meeting thereof, and shall receive 
such salary for their services as the said board shall from time to time 
determine, not exceeding, for each of said officers, the sum of three thousand 
dollars per annum. 

Sec. 4. The said commissioners, by this act, are authorized and 
empowered to, and they shall within ninety days after their organization 
as aforesaid, or as soon thereafter as practicable, select the following 
described lands, situated in the towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and 
Lake, in Cook county, Illinois, to wit: Commencing at the south-west 
corner of Fifty-first street and Cottage Grove avenue, running thence south 
along the west side of Cottage Grove avenue to the south line of Fifty-ninth 
street; thence east along the south line of Fifty-ninth street to the east 
line of Hyde Park avenue ; thence north on Hyde Park avenue to Fifty- 
sixth street; thence east along the south line of Fifty-sixth street to Lake 
Michigan ; thence southerly along the shore of the lake to a point due east 
of the center of section twenty- four (24), in township thirty-eight (38) 
north, range fourteen (14) ; thence west through the centre of said section 
twenty-four (24) to Hyde Park avenue ; thence north on the east line of 
Hyde Park avenue to the north line of Sixtieth street, so called ; thence 
west on the north line of Sixtieth street, so-called, to Kankakee avenue; 
thence north on the east line of Kankakee avenue to Fifty-first street; 
thence east to a point to the place of beginning; also, a piece of land com- 
mencing at the south-east corner of Kankakee avenue and Fifty-fifth street, 
running thence west a strip two hundred feet wide, adjoining the north line 
of Fifty-fifth street, along said Fifty-fifth street to the line between ranges 
thirteen (13) and (14) east; thence north, east of and adjoining said line, a 
strip two hundred feet wide, to the Illinois and Michigan canal ; also, a 
parcel of land beginning at the south-west corner of Douglas place and 
Kankakee avenue, running thence south, a strip of land one hundred and 
thirty-two feet wide, along the west side of said Kankakee avenue, to a point 
one hundred and fifty feet south of the south line of Fifty-first street; also, a 
strip of land commencing at the intersection of Cottage Grove avenue and 
Fifty-first street, running thence east one hundred feet in width on each 
side of the center line of Fifty-first street, to a point one hundred feet east 
of the center line of Drexel avenue; also, a strip of land extending north 
from the intersection of Fifty-first street with Drexel avenue, one hundred 
feet in width, on each side of the center line of said avenue, to the north 
line of Forty-third street; thence northerly, a strip of land two hundred feet 
in width, till it meets or intersects with Elm street in Cleaverville ; thence 
northerly along said Elm street, two hundred feet in width, west from the 
east line of said street, to its intersection with Oakland avenue ; which said 
land and premises, when acquired by said comrhissioners as provided by this 
act, shall be held, managed and controlled by them and their successors, as 

B 



X Appendix. 

a public park, for the recreation, health and benefit of the public, and free 
to all persons forever, subject to such necessary rules and regulations as 
shall, from time to time, be adopted by said commissioners and their suc- 
cessors for the well ordering and government of the same. 

Sec. 5. In case the said commissioners cannot agree with the owner or 
owners, lessees or occupants of any of the said real estate selected by them 
as aforesaid, they may proceed to procure the condemnation of the same, in 
the manner prescribed in the act of the General Assembly of the State of 
Illinois entitled "An act to amend the law condemning right of way for the 
purpose of internal improvement," approved June 22, 1852, and the acts 
amendatory thereof, the provisions of which said act, and the several acts 
amendatory thereof, are hereby extended to the park and park commis- 
sioners to be created by virtue of this act. 

Sec. 6. When the title to the land selected for such park as herein 
provided shall have been acquired by said commissioners, by gift, condem- 
nation, or otherwise, it shall be the duty of such commissioners to make, 
acknowledge, and file for record in the ofiice of the recorder of deeds for 
Cook county, a map, showing the said land, with a correct description, 
including section, township and range. 

Sec. 7. As soon as the amount required for the condemnation of the 
grounds selected for said park shall have been ascertained by said commis- 
sioners, with reasonable certainty, they shall apply to the judge of the 
circuit court of Cook county for the appointment of three freeholders of 
the county of Cook as park assessors. The commissioners shall give notice, 
in one or more of the daily newspapers published in the city of Chicago, of 
the time when such application will be made, and all parties interested may 
appear, and be heard by said Judge touching such appointment. At the 
time fixed for such application, the court, after hearing such persons as shall 
desire to be heard touching such appointment, shall nominate and appoint 
three assessors for the purposes provided in this act. The said assessors 
shall proceed to assess the amount so ascertained upon property in the 
towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake, in Cook county, deemed 
benefited by leason of the improvement occasioned by the location of said 
park, as near as may be in proportion to the benefits resulting thereto : 
Provided, that the aggregate of said benefits is equal to or greater than the 
amount of said damages ; and in case the aggregate of the benefits is less 
than the damages, then the balance of the damages over the benefits shall 
be paid from the fund provided for in section eight of this act. Upon 
entering on the duties of their office, the said assessors shall make oath 
before the clerk of the said circuit court faithfully and impartially to 
discharge the duties of their office. They shall give at least ten days' notice, 
in one of the said daily papers, of the time and place of their meeting for 
the purpose of making said assessment, and may adjourn such meeting 
from time to time, until the same shall be completed. In making the said 
assessment, the said assessors shall estimate the value of the several lots, 
blocks, or parcels of land deemed benefited by them as aforesaid, and shall 
include the same, together with the amount assessed as benefits, in the 



Appendix. xi 

assessment roll. All pai'ties interested may appear before said assessors, 
and may be heard touching any matter connected with the assessment. 
When the same shall be completed, it shall be signed by the assessors, and 
returned to the said circuit court, and shall be filed by the clerk thereof. 
The assessors shall thereupon give at least ten days' notice, in one of the 
said daily papers, of the filing of said assessment roll, and that they will, on 
a day therein named, apply to the said circuit court for confirmation of the 
same, which said notice shall be published at least ten days before the time 
fixed for such application. Said circuit court shall have power to revise, 
correct, amend or confirm said assessment, in whole or in part, and may 
make or order a new assessment, in whole or in part, and the same revise 
and confirm, upon like notice. All parties interested may appear before 
said circuit court, either in person or by attorney, when such application 
shall be made, and may object to said assessment, either in whole or in part, 
provided all objections shall be in writing, and shall be filed at least three 
days before the time fixed for the application, and shall specify the lot, 
block, or parcels of land on behalf of which objection is made. After the 
confirmation of said assessment, the clerk of said circuit court shall file a 
copy thereof, under the seal of his said court, with the clerk of the county 
court of Cook county, and such assessment shall be a lien upon the several 
lots, blocks, or parcels of land assessed for benefits as aforesaid. Ten per 
cent, of the amount so ascertained shall be due and payable annually, and 
the clerk of said Cook county court shall include in the general tax 
warrants of each j-ear, until the whole sum shall be paid, for the collection 
of State and county taxes in the said towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park 
and Lake, ten per cent, of the said assessments, in an appi-opriate column, 
to be termed " South Park Assessment," with the amount to be collected 
opposite the several lots, blocks, or parcels of land assessed as aforesaid ; 
and like proceedings, in all respects, shall be had for enforcing the collection 
of the same as is now provided by law for the collection of state and county 
taxes. The money collected imder the provision of this section shall be 
paid to the treasurer of Cook county, for which he and his sureties shall be 
responsible, as fully as for any other moneys by him received as treasurer of 
Cook county, and be held by him in the same manner, and be subject to the 
same control and direction, as provided in this act for other moneys 
belonging to said corporation ; and the treasurer of Cook county shall be 
entitled to receive one-half of one per cent., and no more, of said moneys, 
as a full compensation for receiving and disbursing the same. 

Sec. 8. For any deficiency arising through acquiring title to said park, 
and for the payment of the expenses of enclosing, maintaining and improving 
the park herein provided for, and the expenses, disbursements and charges 
in the premises, the said commissioners shall have power to loan or borrow, 
from time to time, for such time as they shall deem expedient, a sum of 
money not exceeding two millions of dollars, and shall have authority to 
issue bonds, secured upon the said park and improvements, which bonds 
shall issue under the seal of said commissioners, and shall be signed by said 
commissioners, and countersigned by the secretary of said board, and bear 



xii Appendix. 

interest not exceeding seven per cent, per annum ; and it shall be the duty 
of said commissioners to keep an accurate register of all bonds issued by 
them, showing the number, date and amount of each bond, and to whom 
the same was issued, and said register shall at all times be open to the inves- 
tigation of the public; and for the payment of the principal and interest of 
said bonds the said park and improvements shall be irrevocably pledged, 
and the towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake shall be irrevocably 
bound ; and said bonds may be sold by said commissioners upon such terms 
and for such prices as, in the judgment of said commissioners, can be 
obtained for the same in cash. 

Sec. 9. The said board of park commissioners shall, annually, on or 
before the first day of December in each year, transmit to the clerk of the 
county court of Cook county an estimate, in writing, of the amount of 
money, not exceeding in any one year three hundred thousand dollars, neces- 
sary for the payment of the interest on the bonds issued' by said board, and 
that, in addition thereto, will be required for the improvement, maintenance, 
and government of said park during the current year ; and the said clerk shall 
proceed to determine what per cent, said sum is on the taxable property of 
said towns, according to the several assessors' returns for the respective 
year, and shall, in the next general tax warrants for the collection of state 
and county taxes in said several towns, set down the amount chargeable to 
the several persons, corporations, lots or parcels of ground, in a separate or 
appropriate column, and shall receive such compensation as now allowed by 
law ; and the collectors, respectively, shall proceed to collect the same in the 
manner now provided by law for the collection of state and county taxes; 
and all the provisions of law, in respect to the collection of state and 
county taxes, and proceedings to enforce the same, so far as applicable, shall 
apply to said assessments and taxes. The said sum of money shall be 
placed by the treasurer of the said county of Cook to the credit of the said 
board of park commissioners, and shall be drawn by said board from the 
county treasury- by warrant, signed by the president and secretary of the 
board, and countersigned by the auditor, to be appointed as aforesaid, and 
in no other way ; the appointment of such auditor or comptroller having 
been first duly certified by such president and secretary, and filed in the 
office of said treasurer of Cook county. 

Sec. 10. It shall be lawful for said commissioners to vacate and close up 
any and all public roads and highways, excepting railroads, which may 
pass through, divide, or separate any lands selected or appropriated by them 
for the purposes of a park; and no such road shall be laid out through said 
park except such as the said commissioners shall lay otit and construct. 

Sec. II. No one of the said commissioners shall be interested, either 
directly or indirectly, in any contract entered into by them with any other 
person ; nor shall they be interested, directly or indirectly, in the purchase 
of any material to be used or applied in and about the uses and purposes 
contemplated in this act. And it shall be a misdemeanor for any commis- 
sioner to be directly or indirectly interested, or in any way pecuniarily 
interested in any contract or work of any kind whatever, connected with 
said park. 



Appendix. xiii 

Sec. 12. The said commissioners, or either of them, may be removed 
from office by the jvidge of the circuit court of Cook county, upon the 
petition presented to him in term time or in vacation, by one hundred free- 
holders of said towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park, and Lake, if it shall 
appear, after hearing and proof before said judge, that the said commis- 
sioners, or either of them, have been guilty of misdemeanor or malfeasance 
in office under this act ; and if the said judge shall remove any two or more 
of said commissioners from otfice for any cause, before the expiration of 
their term of office, they are hereby empowered to appoint others in their 
stead, who shall fill such offices for and during the unexpired term of such 
commissioners so removed. 

Sec. 13. The said board shall have the full and exclusive power to govern, 
manage, and direct said park; to lay out and regulate the same; to pass 
ordinances for the regulation and government thereof; to appoint such 
engineers, surveyors, clerks, and other officers, including a police force, as 
may be necessary; to define and prescribe their respective duties and 
authority; fix the amount of their compensation; and generally, in regard 
to said park, they shall possess all the power and authority now by law 
conferred upon or possessed by the common council of the city of Chicago, 
in respect to the public squares and places in said city; and it shall be 
lawful for them to commence the improvement of said park as soon as they 
have obtained one hundred acres of the premises herein described. 

Sec. 14. The office of any commissioner under this act, who shall not 
attend meetings of the board for three successive months, after having been 
duly notified of said meetings, without leave of absence from said board, 
may, by said board, be declared vacant. 

Sec. 15. The real estate and personal property of said corporation shall 
be exempted from taxation and assessment. 

Sec. 16. All moneys belonging or to belong to any park fund now in 
existence or hereafter to be created, and all bonds, and the proceeds from 
sales thereof, now authorized or hereafter to be authorized to be issued by 
the city of Chicago for park purposes, in or to which the South Division of 
the city of Chicago may now or shall hereafter be entitled to a distributive 
share, shall be devoted and applied to the pui-chase or maintenance and 
improvement of the park contemplated and created by this act, under the 
direction and control of the commissioners provided for in this act. 

Sec. 17. The bonds to be issued under this act may be received in 
payment of any assessment, whether such bond or assessment shall have 
become due or not, upon such terms as shall be fair, just and equitable ; 
and upon the payment of any assessment, the land upon which the same is 
assessed shall be free from any lien or liability to pay the same ; and such 
payment shall be reported to the county clerk of Cook county, and entered 
upon the record of the assessment. 

Sec. iS. There shall be an election held in the towns of South Chicago, 
Hyde Park and Lake, on the fourth Tuesday of March next after the passage 
of this act, at which election the legal voters voting at such election shall 
vote for or against this act. The tickets shall be printed or written, " For 



xiv Appendix. 

Park," or "Against Park;" and if a majority of the votes cast on the 
subject of park shall be " For Park,'" then this act shall take effect and be 
in force, but not otherwise. The clerk of the county court of Cook county 
shall designate the place of holding such election, and give notice thereof in 
one or more of the daily papers published in the county of Cook, at least 
six days preceding such election, and shall supply the judges thereof with 
the necessary books, papers and boxes, as in other cases of elections ; and 
there shall be one polling or voting place in each voting precinct in said 
towns, as the same were fixed at the last general election in the county of 
Cook. The persons who acted as judges or inspectors of election in the 
several precincts of said towns, at the last general election in Cook county, 
shall be the judges or inspectors of this election. In case the judges or 
inspectors of election shall not attend at the time for opening the 
polls, such judges or inspectors shall be chosen by the legal voters 
present. The clerk shall be appointed as provided in elections for county 
officers. The polls shall be opened and closed and the election conducted 
as the elections for county officers. All legal voters of said towns shall be 
entitled to vote at such election, without any new registration ; and the 
judges or inspectors of such election shall use the registry list made for 
the general election in November, 1868 : Provided, that whenever any 
person whose name is not on the registry list shall offer his vote at such 
election, the judges or inspectors shall require the same evidence of his 
qualification as now provided by law. The said judges of election shall, 
immediately after the closing of the polls, count the ballots, fill out and 
sign the returns and tally sheets, as now provided by law in all other 
elections, and return the poll books and ballots to the clerk of the county 
court, as in other cases of election. The votes shall be canvassed in the 
manner provided by law for the election of state and county officers. The 
clerk of the coimty court of Cook county shall, immediately after such 
canvass, cause a certificate of the result of such election to be filed in the 
office of Secretary of State, which shall be conclusive evidence of the result 
of said election. 

Sec. 19. This act shall be a public act. and shall take effect and be in 
force from and after its passage. 



WEST CHICAGO. 

An Act to Amend the Charter of the City of Chicago, to create 
A Board of Park Commissioners, and authorize a Tax in the 
Town of West Chicago ,and for other purposes : 

Section i. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois., repre- 
sented ifi the General Assembly, That the territorial limits of the city of 
Chicago shall be and are hereby extended as follows : That part of Section 
30, 40, 14 east of 3d p. m., which lies west of the North Branch of the 
Chicago River; Section 25, 40, 13 east of 3d p. m., except that part of said 
section lying east of the center of the North Branch of the Chicago river; 



Appendix. xv 

sections 26, 35 and 36, in township 40, 13 east of 3d p. m. ; sections i, 2. 11. 
12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25 and 26, in township 39, 13 east of 3d p. M., and that part 
of sections 35 and 36, in township 39, 13 east of 3d p. m., lying north-west 
of the center of the Illinois and Michigan canal, shall be, and are hereby, 
added to said city, and shall constitute a part of the West Division of said 
city, and of the town of West Chicago, and the said added or new territory 
shall cease to be a part of the several towns to which it now belongs or 
appertains, and the outside boundary of the West Division of the city of 
Chicago, as hereby established, shall be the outside boundary of the several 
wards of the city which now extend to the present city limits. 

Sec. 2. Seven persons, resident freeholders and qualified voters of said 
town, who shall be designated by the governor of the state of Illinois, 
together with their successors, shall be, and they are hereby, constituted a 
Board of Public Park Commissioners for the town of West Chicago, to be 
known under the name of the "West Chicago Park Commissioners," and in 
case of the failure of any of said persons to accept such appointment, and to 
qualify thereunder as hereinafter provided, within sixty days after the 
passage of this act, the place of such person in said commission shall be 
thereby vacated, and it shall be the duty of the commissioners so accepting 
to certify the fact of such failure and vacancy to the governor, who shall 
appoint some suitable person or persons, possessing the qualifications afore- 
said, to fill the place or places thus made vacant, and vacancies shall 
continue to be filled in like manner, until the board shall have been filled 
and constituted by the acceptance and qualification of seven persons. Each 
of said commissioners, before entering upon the duties of his oftice, shall 
take an oath to well and properly discharge the duties of his office for the 
interest of the public, which oath shall be reduced to writing, subscribed to 
by him, and filed in the ofliice of the county clerk of Cook county. They 
shall each give a bond in the penal sum of $20,000, with one or more sureties, 
to be approved by the judge of the circuit court of Cook county, to the treas- 
urer of Cook county, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties 
under the act. 

Sec. 3. As soon as convenient after the said board shall be constituted 
as aforesaid, the members thereof shall decide by lot, at a meeting to be 
called by any three of them, as to the respective term for which each member 
shall hold his office; the number of lots shall equal the number of commis- 
sioners, and the person drawing the longest term shall serve seven years 
from the first day of March, 1869; the one drawing the next shall serve for 
six years from said date ; the one drawing the next shall serve for five years 
from said date ; and so on, until the term of each one of said commis- 
sioners shall be definitely determined, each one serving for the length of 
time inscribed on the lot drawn by him; the last of said commissioners 
serving for the term of one year only from said first day of March, A. D. 
1869. As soon as the term of office of each of said commissioners shall be 
determined as aforesaid, said board shall organize, by electing one of their 
number as president, and one of their number as auditor. They shall also 
appoint a treasurer, prescribe his duties, and fix his compensation, who shall 



xvi Appendix. 

give bond for the faithful discharge of his duties in the penal sum of $50,000. 
with not less than three sufficient sureties, to be approved by the judge of 
the circuit court of Cook county. They shall also choose a secretary, who 
shall not necessarily be a commissioner, and who shall hold his office until 
his successor shall be appointed, as hereinafter provided; and all officers 
appointed by the board shall be subject to removal, at the pleasure of the 
board. The said board shall adopt a seal, and alter the same at pleasure; 
they shall keep a complete record of all their proceedings, which shall be 
open at all times for the inspection of the public. The said commissioners 
shall receive no compensation for their services, except the president, who 
may, in the discretion of said board, have and receive such compensation as 
may be fixed, as hereinafter provided, not to exceed four thousand dollars 
per annum. All vacancies occurring in said board shall be filled as soon as 
in ay be thereafter, by the appointment of the governor of the state of Illinois. 
The said board of commissioners shall be a body politic and corporate, with 
perpetual succession, and power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, 
to have and use a common seal, and they shall have and enjoy all the 
powers necessary for the purposes of this act. 

Sec. 4. The said board of commissioners shall have full and exclusive 
power to govern, manage and direct all parks, boulevards and ways author- 
ized by this act, and by them purchased, made, laid out or established ; to 
lay out, regulate, make and improve the same, to pass ordinances and issue 
and enforce orders for the regulation and government of the same; to levy 
special assessments on all property by them deemed benefited by the 
purchase, opening and improvement of such parks, boulevards and ways, as 
limited by this act : to appoint such engineers, surveyors, clerks and 
other officers, including a police force, as may be necessary; to define 
and prescribe their respective duties and authority, and fix the amount 
of their compensation ; and generally in regard to said parks, boulevards 
and ways, they shall possess all the power and authority now by law 
conferred upon or possessed by the common council of the city of 
Chicago in respect to the public squares, places and streets in said city; and 
it shall be lawful for them to commence the improvement of the same as 
soon as the funds requisite therefor, or any portion thereof, shall have been 
obtained. The expenditure for engineers, surveyors, clerks and officers, 
except the president, including a police force, shall not exceed five 
thousand dollars per annum, without further authority from the General 
Assembly ; but said board may accept of the services of such of the police 
force of the city of Chicago as may be placed at their disposal by the 
common council or police authorities of said city. ^ 

Sec. 5. The said board shall have power, and it shall be made their duty, 
and they are hereby authorized, to select and take possession of, and to 
acquire by condemnation, contract, donation or otherwise, title forever, in 
trust for the inhabitants of the town of West Chicago and of the West 
Division of Chicago, and for such parties or persons as may succeed to the 
rights of said inhabitants, and for the public as public promenades and 
pleasure grounds and ways, but not without the consent of a majority, by 



Appendix. xvii 

frontage, of the owners of the property' fronting the same for any other use 
or purpose, and without the power to sell, alienate, mortgage, or encumber 
the same, to the lands, and appurtenances required for a road, or pleasure 
wa_y, or boulevard, not less than two hundred and fifty, nor more than four 
hundred feet in width, and for the establishment of a building-line, as here- 
inafter specified, fifty feet distant from and outside of said boulevard 
or pleasure way, beginning at a point in said added territory north of 
Fullerton Avenue, and at or near the North Branch of the Chicago River, 
and extending west within said added territory to a point one mile or more 
west of Western Avenue, and thence southerly to a point at or near the 
Illinois and Michigan Canal, with such curves and deviations as they shall 
deem expedient; also to the lands required and building-lines aforesaid for 
three parks upon the line of said boulevard, and upon the part of the same 
between the two last mentioned points, of not less than one hundred nor 
more than two hundred acres each, and which shall cost respectively not 
exceeding $250,000; the first to be located north of Kinzie street; the 
second to be located between Kinzie street and Harrison street, and the 
third to be located between Harrison street and the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad track; the total cost of said parks and boulevards, with the 
easements and building-line aforesaid, exclusive of improvements, shall not 
exceed $900,000, and shall be assessed on the property benefited as herein- 
after provided. If the said board should locate any part of said boulevard 
or parks outside of the said extended territory and limits, each section of 
land west of the same, of which a part shall be taken for such boulevard or 
parks, shall be and remain, together with the lands and territory between 
the same, and the said limits, a part of the said town and citj', and of the 
several w-ards thereof as aforesaid, and shall cease to be a part of the several 
towns to which it now belongs or appertains. But in no case shall the 
western line of either of said parks be over two (2) miles from Western 
avenue, unless by voluntary contributions land is added to such parks 
outside of said limits. Said lands, boulevards and parks, and the 
personal property of said board shall be exempt from taxation. The said 
board may contract with the owners of property taken or purchased, for 
annual payments, not to extend beyond five years, and in such case shall 
only include in the assessment for any year that amount of such annual 
payments then due, if any, and the amount of one annual payment for 
that year, or next to become due. They are also authorized to divide 
the amount of their assessments, and where it can legally be done, to 
make one or more assessments, payable in annual installments, which shall 
be a lien on property only for the amount payable each year. The part of 
said boulevards between the said North Park and the North Branch of the 
Chicago River, and the part of the same south of the said Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railroad track, shall not be made unless the land therefor 
shall be acquired free of cost to said board, and shall not be ornamented or 
improved until after the improvement of the parks shall have been com- 
pleted, unless the same be done by voluntary contribution. 

Sec. 6. The establishment of a building-line outside of said boulevard 
G 



xviii Appendix. 

and parks as hereinbefore required in connection with the condemnation of 
the land for the same shall be understood to be the condemnation and 
perpetual annihilation of all right of the owners of property which shall 
front on said boulevard, or across which said building-line shall run, to 
erect any building whatever or any part thereof, between said building-line 
and said boulevard or parks ; or it may be accomplished by the absolute 
condemnation of the land, with perpetual and irrevocable free license to use 
and occupy fifty feet in width of the same for all purposes not otherwise 
forbidden, except building, as the said board shall be advised may be 
preferable and most eflfective. 

Sec. 7. No subdivision into lots of any lands in said town lying within 
four hundred feet of said boulevard, or either of said parks, shall be valid 
without the approval of the said Board of Park Commissioners, and they 
also shall have power to forbid by general order, and to abate any horse- 
racing, gambling, or offensive or obnoxious or dangerous business or amuse- 
ments, within four hundred feet of said boulevard and parks, or either of 
them, and the right to use the said adjacent lands for any such purposes 
shall be deemed to be included in the assessment and condemnation above 
provided for. But no lawful business now established and carried on upon 
said adjacent lands shall be prohibited or abated without a fair valuation and 
due and full compensation. 

Sec. 8. The said board shall have power to construct all necessary 
bridges and viaducts, over rivers, water courses and railroads within or on 
the line of said town, and it shall be their duty to construct the same as soon 
as the means shall have been provided therefor. 

Sec. 9. The said Board of Park Commissioners are hereby required to 
make not less than three topographical surveys and examinations of different 
routes for said boulevards and outlines of parks, with complete elevations, 
before locating the same, and to invite owners of property to confer with 
them in regard to donations of land. They are also authorized to receive 
donations or appropriations of money for the puixhase or improvement of 
the same, and of lands for, or as a part of or to be added to said boulevard 
or either of said park, upon conditions to be agreed upon. 

Sec. id. None of the main streets and avenues leading to the said 
boulevard and pai'ks, and which have heretofore been opened and used as 
country roads or highways, shall ever be closed up or reduced in width, in 
whole or in part, except streets near the river and its branches, which may be 
changed for business purposes or greater convenience of access. The Board 
of Public Works are hereby authorized and required, upon the order of the 
Common Council, to make and assess, in the manner herein and in the city 
charter provided, subject to confirmation by the Common Council, the 
benefits and damages resulting from the extension of the road known as 
•'Whiskey Point Road," as nearly as may be in its present direction, from 
its present western terminus at Western avenue, to Fulton street, of the 
width of 120 feet, and from Fulton street to Lake street of the width of So 
feet, and the widening said road from its present terminus at Western avenue 
to the new or extended city limits, to the width of 120 feet, with a building 



Afi-pendix. xix. 

line as hereinbefore defined and specified, distant ten feet from, and outside 
of each line of said road from Fulton street to Western avenue, and 50 feet 
from and outside of said road from Western avenue to the new or extended 
city limits, and also the grading and macadamizing said road or the middle 
part thereof, to the width of at least 30 feet, and a viaduct or viaducts for 
carriages, teams and foot passengers, over all railroad tracks now laid or 
hei-eafter to be laid across said road. The several township load officers and 
the Cook County Drainage Commissioners, and all other officers now or 
hereafter authorized to open roads on said line outside of the city limits, in 
making any assessment for widening said road, are authorized and required 
to include the establishment of said building line fifty feet distant from and 
outside of said road, as aforesaid. The name of the said " Whiskey Point 
Road, " both within and beyond said city limits, shall be and is hef"eby 
changed, and shall be known forever hereafter as " Grand Avenue." The 
Southwestern avenue, from Madison street to the city limits, shall also be 
macadamized, with the consent and approval of the Common Council. 

Sec. II. In case the said commissioners cannot agree with the owner 
or owners, lessees or occupants of anj^ of the said real estate, selected by 
them as aforesaid, they may proceed to procure the condemnation of the 
same in the manner prescribed in the act of the General Assembly of the 
State of Illinois, entitled, '' An act to amend the law condemning right of 
way for the purpose of internal improvements, approved January 22, 1852," 
and the acts then in force amendatory thereof; the provisions of which said 
act, and the several acts amendatory thereof, are hereby extended to the 
boulevards, parks and Park Commissioners, to be created by virtue of this 
act. 

Sec. 12. When the title of the land selected for boulevards, ways, ease- 
ments, parks and building lines as herein provided, shall have been acquired 
by the Commissioners, by gift, condemnation, or otherwise, it shall be the 
duty of such Commissioners to make, acknowledge and file for record, in 
the office of the Recorder of Deeds for Cook county, a map showing the said 
land, with a correct description, including section, township and range. 

Sec. 13. As soon as the amount required for the condemnation of the 
grounds selected for said purposes shall have been ascertained by said 
commissioners, with reasonable certainty, they shall apply to the judge of 
the circuit court of Cook county, for the appointment of three disinter- 
ested freeholders, as assessors, one of whom shall reside north of Division 
street, one between Division and Harrison streets, and one south of Harrison 
street, all in said West Chicago. The commissioners shall give notice in 
three or more of the daily newspapers published in the city of Chicago, and 
by posting written or printed notices in three public places in said West 
Chicago, of the time when such application will be made, and all parties 
interested may appear and be heard by the said judge, touching such 
appointment, at the time fixed for such application. The court, after 
hearing such persons as shall desire to be heard touching such appointment, 
shall nominate and appoint three assessors, qualified as aforesaid, for the 
purpose provided in this act. The said assessors shall proceed to assess the 



XX Appendix. 

amount so ascertained upon the property by them deemed benefited by 
reason of the improvement occasioned by the location of said boulevard 
and parks, with their appurtenances, as near as may be in proportion to the 
benefits resulting thereto, and also the damages, if any, occasioned by the 
taking, or condemnation of any land, right or easement as aforesaid ; and 
in general the form and particulars of the assessment shall be as near as may 
be the same required by the city charter of Chicago in the condemnation of 
land for, and the laying out of streets. From the funds derived from said 
assessment, and from the other funds of said board applicable to such 
purposes, the said board shall pay to the parties entitled thereto the amounts 
respectively due them, and thereupon the title of the said lands, v^^ays, 
boundary lines, easements and parks, or that portion thereof paid for as 
aforesaid, shall become fixed and vested in said board and their successors 
in the manner, to the extent, for the purposes, and subject to the limitations, 
hereinbefore provided. Upon entering upon the duties of their office, the 
said assessors shall make oath before the clerk of the circuit court faithfully 
and impartially to discharge the duties of their office; they shall give at least 
ten days' notice, in three of the said daily papers, and by posting notices as 
aforesaid, of the time and place of their meeting for the purpose of making- 
said assessment, and may adjourn said meeting from time to time, until the 
same shall be completed. In making said assessment, the said assessors 
shall estimate the value of the several lots, blocks or parcels of land deemed 
benefited by them as aforesaid, and shall include the same, together with the 
amount assessed as benefits, in the assessment roll. All parties interested 
may appear before said assessors, and be heard touching any matter con- 
nected with the assessment. When the same shall be completed, it shall be 
signed by the assessor, and returned to the said circuit court, and shall be 
filed by the clerk thereof The assessors shall thereupon give at least ten 
days' notice, in three of the said daily newspapers, and by posting notices 
as aforesaid, of the filing of said assessment roll, and that they will, on a 
day therein named, apply to the circuit court for confirmation of the same, 
which said notice shall be published at least ten days before the time fixed 
for such application. Said circuit court shall have power to revise, correct, 
amend or confirm said assessment, in whole or in part, and may make or 
order a new assessment, in whole or in part, and the same revise and confirm 
upon like notice. All parties may appear before said circuit court, either in 
person or by attorney, when such application shall be made, and may object 
to said assessment, either in whole or in part, provided all objections shall 
be in writing, and shall be filed at least thi-ee days before the time fixed for 
the application, and shall specify the lot, block or parcels of land on behalf 
of which objection is made. After the confirmation of said assessment, the 
clerk of said court shall file a copy thereof, under the seal of said court, with 
the clerk of the county court of Cook county, and said assessment shall be 
a lien upon the several lots, blocks or parcels of land assessed for benefits as 
aforesaid. The clerk of the said Cook county court shall include in the 
general warrants for each year, until the assessments for the purposes 
authorized bv this act shall have been completed, and until the whole 



Appendix. xxi 

sum shall be paid, for the collection of state and county taxes in the said 
town of West Chicago, the said assessment, in an appropriate column, to be 
termed "West Park and Boulevard Assessment," with the amount to be 
collected opposite the several lots, blocks or parcels of land assessed as 
aforesaid, and like proceedings, in all respects, shall be had for enforcing the 
same as are now provided by law for the collection of state and county taxes. 
The moneys collected under the provisions of this section shall be paid to 
the treasurer of Cook county, for which he and his sureties shall be respon- 
sible, as fully as for any other moneys by him received as treasurer of Cook 
county, and be held by him in the same manner, and be subject to the same 
control and dii-ection, as provided in this act for other moneys belonging to 
said corporation. And the treasurer of Cook county shall be entitled to 
receive one-half of one per cent., and no more, of said moneys, as a full 
compensation for receiving and disbursing the same. 

Sec. 14. If deemed practicable by the assessors, separate assessments 
and appraisements shall be made, one for that part of the said boulevard, 
ways, building line and easements, and for said park, building line and 
easements, to be made and taken North of Division street; one for the same 
between Division street and Harrison street, and one for the same south of 
Harrison street. The benefits assessed shall be the real and appreciable 
benefits, and the assessments shall not, in any case, be extended over any 
land, lots or parts of the said West Chicago where said benefits do not exist. 
No assessment for boulevard or park improvement shall be made until 
further authorized by the General Assembly. 

Sec. 15. For the expense authorized herein for surveys and for any 
deficiencies and necessary outlays arising and required in the condemnation 
aforesaid, and in the purchase of lands and property for the purposes herein 
specified, and for the payment of the expenses of maintaining and improving 
the said boulevard and parks, and of enclosing the same when deemed 
necessary, and for draining and making roadways and walks upon the same, 
and for other expenses, disbursements, and changes in the premises, said 
commissioners shall have power to borrow, as they shall deem expedient, an 
amount of money not exceeding $50,000 in the aggregate, and for a time not 
exceeding three years, and at a rate of interest not exceeding ten per cent, 
per annum, and to issue therefor the notes or obligations of the said corpor- 
ation, which shall be numbered consecutively from number one, and shall 
be signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary of said board, 
and shall be registered accurately and minutely in a register which shall at 
all times be open for the examination of the public, and no note or obliga- 
tion made as aforesaid shall be valid for an amount exceeding the sum 
remaining ot said $50,000 as appears by said register, or until the same shall 
have been duly registered in said register. For the payment of the principal 
and interest of said notes and obligations, the town of West Chicago shall 
be irrevocably pledged, and also the proceeds of the tax hereinafter 
authorized. 

Sec. 16. The adoption of the proposition for boulevard and parks as 
hereinafter specified, shall be deemed and taken to be the consent of the said 



xxii Appendix. 

town of West Chicago to the imposition of an annual tax of one-half of 
one mill for boulevard and park purposes, as hereinafter provided. It shall 
be the duty of the clerk of the county court of Cook county to set down in the 
general tax warrants of each year, for the collection of state and county taxes, in 
a separate column, a tax of one-half of one mill, to be styled "Boulevard and 
Park Tax," which is hereby levied upon all the taxable property in said town 
of West Chicago, and shall set down in said column the amount of said tax 
chargeable to the several persons, corporations, lots, or parcels of land liable 
for taxes in said town ; and the collector shall proceed to collect the same in 
the manner now provided by law for the collection of state and county taxes ; 
and all the provisions of law in respect to the collection of state and county 
taxes, and proceedings to enforce the same, so far as applicable, shall apply 
to said assessments and taxes. The said sums of money shall be placed by 
the treasurer of said county of Cook to the credit of said board, and shall 
be drawn by said board from the county treasury by a warrant, signed by the 
president and secretary of said board, and countersigned by the auditor to 
be appointed as aforesaid, and in no other way. The appointment of such 
auditor shall be first certified by such president and secretary, and filed in 
the office of said treasurer of Cook county. 

Sec. 17. It shall be lawful for said commissioners to vacate and close up 
any and all public roads or highways, excepting railroads, for commercial 
purposes, which maj' pass through, divide or separate any lands selected or 
appropriated by them for the purposes of a park, and no such road shall 
ever be laid out through said pai-k, except such as the said commissioners 
shall lay out and construct: Provided, /totvever, that neither Lake street, 
Madison nor Twelfth streets, nor either of the diagonal avenues or roads 
leading into said city, nor any boulevard nor horse railway track of any 
person or corporation now authorized to make the same, shall be closed 
under the provisions of this section, but the same ma}' be worked and con- 
trolled when, and so far as, within the lines of either of said parks, by the 
said board, but without interrupting travel over the same. 

Sec. iS. The said commissioners, or either of them, may be removed 
from office by the circuit court of said county, after trial and conviction, 
upon the petition, with sworn charges, presented by not less than ten repu- 
table freeholders of said town of West Chicago, and if it shall appear at 
said trial that the said commissioner or commissioners have been guilty of 
misdemeanor or malfeasance in office under this act; and if the said court 
shall remove any of said commissioners froin office for any such cause, 
before the expiration of his or their term of office, the clerk of said court 
shall certify to the governor of the state of Illinois, under the seal of the 
court, a cop3' of the final judgment of removal. The president and secretary 
of the board shall certify to the governor all other vacancies arising or 
occurring in the same after the organization thereof. 

Sec. 19. The office of any commissioner under this act, who shall not 
attend meetings of the board for three successive months, after having been 
duly notified of said meetings, without reasons satisfactory to the board, 
or without leave of absence from said board, may, by said board, be 
declared, and thereupon shall become, vacant. 



Appendix. xxiii 

Sec. 20. There shall be an election held in the town of West Chicago 
on the fourth Tuesday of March next, after the passage of this act at which 
election the legal voters voting at said election shall vote for or against the 
creation of the said Board of Park Commissioners, the laying out and 
making of said boulevards and parks, with their appurtenances, the addition 
of said sections of land above described by numbers, to said city and town 
of West Chicago and the extension of the limits thereof, and the imposition 
of the tax hereby declared to be levied, at which all legal voters residing in 
the said added territory shall have the right to vote. The tickets shall be 
printed or written " For the Boulevards and Parks," and '• Against the 
Boulevards and Parks," and if the majority ofc the votes cast on the question 
shall be " For the Boulevards and Parks," then the propositions in the first 
part of this section specified shall be held to be consented to and voted by 
the said town, and all the provisions of this act relating thereto shall take 
effect and be in force, with the other provisions of this act, but not other- 
wise : Provided^ however, That there shall be open in the said territory 
added from the town of Jefferson, at the house of Henry Jewell, known as 
" Powell's Tavern," a poll for the casting of the votes of said last mentioned 
territory separately, at which election M. N. Kimbell, John F. Powell and 
John Hise shall be judges of election, and the legal voters resident therein 
on the tenth (10) day of February, A. D. 1869, may vote for " City Exten- 
sion." and "Against City Extension," and " For the Boulevards and Parks," 
and •' Against the Boulevards and Parks," and if a majority of the votes so 
cast shall be " Against City Extension," and " Against the Boulevards and 
Parks," then the territory herein taken from said town of Jefferson, shall not 
become a part of the city of Chicago, or of the town of W^est Chicago, nor 
shall the jurisdiction of said city be extended over the same, but the same 
shall remain a part of the town of Jefferson, the same as if this act had not 
been passed, and said vote shall not be counted with or affect the vote cast 
in the remaining territory embraced in this act. The clerk of the county 
court of Cook county shall, exept as herein otherwise provided, designate 
the places of holding such election, and give notice thereof in three or more 
of the daily newspapers published in the county of Cook, at least ten days 
preceding such election, and shall supply the judges thereof with the 
necessary books, papers and boxes, as in other cases of elections ; and there 
shall be one polling or voting place in each voting district in said town, 
as the same were fixed at the last general election in the county of Cook. 
The persons who acted as judges or inspectors of election in the several 
districts of said town, at the last general election in Cook county, 
shall be the judges or inspectors of this election. In case the judges or 
inspectors of election shall not attend at the time for opening the 
polls, such judges or inspectors shall be chosen by the legal voters 
present. In case it shall be necessary to do so, the said clerk of the county 
court shall prescribe districts and appoint places of voting in the added 
territory aforesaid, at which the legal voters present shall choose the judges 
or inspectors of election. The clerks shall be appointed as provided in 
elections for county officers. The polls shall be opened and closed and 



xiv AppcJidix. 

the election conducted, as elections for county officers. All legal voters of 
said town shall be entitled to vote at such election, Avithout any registra- 
tion ; and the judges or inspectors of such election shall use the registered 
list made for the general election in November, A. D. i86S : and where 
necessary to do so, said county clerk shall obtain copies of such registry lists of 
the several towns from Avhich the said added territory is taken, and furnish 
them in due time at the place or places where the vote of the voters of 
the said added territory shall be taken : Provided, That whenever any 
person whose name is not on the registry list shall ofter his vote at such 
election, the judges or inspectors shall require the same evidence of his 
qualification as now provided by law. The said judges of election shall 
immediately after the close of the polls, covmt the ballots, fill out 
and sign the returns and tally sheets as now provided by law in all other 
elections, and return the poll books and ballots to the clerk of the countj' 
court, as in other cases of election. The votes shall be canvassed in the 
manner provided by law for the election of state and county officers. The 
clerk of the county court of Cook county shall, immediately after such 
canvass, cause a certificate of the result of such election to be filed in the 
office of the Secretary of State, which shall be conclusive evidence of the 
result of said election. 

Sec. 21. This act shall be deemed a public act, and shall be in force 
from and after its passage. It shall be liberally construed in all courts and 
places, and all acts and parts of acts in confiict with its provisions or either 
of them, are hereby repealed. 



Arx B, '. 



TO BE PUBLISHED IN APRIL BY S. C. GRIGGS cSi CO. 



The Mississippi Valley: 



JTS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHT, 



rNCLUDlNG SKETCHES OF THE TOPOGRAPHY, BOTANY, CLIMATE, GEOLOGY, 

AND MINERAL RESOURCES, AND OF THE PROGRESS OF 

DEVELOPMENT IN POPULATION AND 

MATERIAL WEALTH. 



.By J. W. FOSTER, LL. D., 

President of the American Association for the advancement of Science, joint author of " Foster & 

Whitney's Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Region," Lecturer on 

Physical Geography, and the Cognate Sciences in the 

University of Chicago, &c., &c. 



Illustrated by Maps and Sections. 
One Volume, Octavo: Price, $3.50. 



The above work contains the result^ of a life-time spent in the observation and investigation of the 
Physical Phenomena of the great region known as the Mississippi Valley, including the Great Lakes, 
its descriptions of the natural features, undeveloped mineral wealth, varied climatic influences, distribu- 
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S. C. GRIGGS & CO., Publishers, 

117 and 119 State St., Chicago. 






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